By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

For a team that's out of it, the Reds sure can find a way to keep games interesting on most occasions.

Tuesday night, it was Reds starting pitcher Paul Wilson (6-10) who kept it close.

He was doing battle with one of Arizona's vaunted aces, Curt Schilling, and almost matched him pitch for pitch.

The difference for most of the game was the Wilson pitch that Diamondbacks center fielder Steve Finley knocked over the right-field wall in the fifth inning.

That was all Schilling (6-6) needed to beat Wilson and the Reds.

The Diamondbacks added a run in the ninth to beat the Reds 2-0 before 31,485 fans at Great American Ball Park.

It was the Diamondbacks' 15th straight win against the Reds.

And it was the second consecutive game the Reds have been shut out.

The Padres shut them out Sunday.

Wilson gave up only six hits in seven innings. Schilling allowed three in seven.

When Wilson pitches like that, everybody in the Reds organization feels a whole lot better about having him in the rotation next season.

There are some good things to say about Wilson:

• He's durable. He made his 24th start of the season, tied for tops on the staff with Danny Graves.

• He keeps the Reds in games. Although he's 0-2 in his last three starts, he has given up only five earned runs in 20 1/3 innings.

• He's generally effective. He leads the Reds in quality starts with 14. (The rest of the staff has 27 quality starts among them.)

The Reds' best chance came in the sixth inning on a one-out single by Sean Casey and a double by Adam Dunn.

But Brandon Larson and Russell Branyan each struck out.

It was Larson's third straight strikeout of the game.

Schilling isn't beyond showing some emotion: He did the ol' upward fist pump on his way off the mound.

He knew those were his two key outs of the game, and he pitched like it.

His team's in the wild-card race, and Schilling pitched like that, too.

It was only his 17th start of the year.

He missed six weeks with fractures of the third and fourth metacarpal of his pitching hand, when he was struck by a Sean Burroughs line drive in San Diego on May 30.

The reliever for Schilling - left-hander Eddie Oropesa - was effective, too.

In the eighth, he got Barry Larkin to ground out and then struck out Casey before walking Dunn.

That brought right-handed reliever Jose Velarde to face Larson with Dunn on first.

Larson grounded out to second base.

In the ninth, right-handed reliever Matt Mantei struck out Branyan (his third strikeout of the night) and Ruben Mateo, and got Jason LaRue to line out to third base. Time of the game: two hours and 34 minutes.

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Kata 2b	3	1	1	0	1	1	.302
Counsell 3b	2	0	0	0	1	0	.251
LGonzalez lf	4	0	1	1	0	2	.312
Hillenbrand 1b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.295
SFinley cf	4	1	1	1	0	0	.300
Mondesi rf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.293
Cintron ss	3	0	1	0	0	0	.295
Barajas c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.222
Schilling p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.081
McCracken ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.228
Oropesa p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valverde p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mantei p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	29	2	4	2	3	5

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.310
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.284
Olmedo ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	.291
Casey 1b	4	0	2	0	0	1	.298
Dunn rf	3	0	1	0	1	2	.214
Larson 3b	4	0	0	0	0	3	.111
Branyan lf	4	0	0	0	0	3	.227
RMateo cf	4	0	0	0	0	3	.242
LaRue c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.239
PWilson p	2	0	1	0	0	0	.136
Taylor ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.199
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Totals	33	0	6	0	2	14

Arizona	000	010	001	-2	4	0
Cincinnati	000	000	000	-0	6	2

E-LaRue 2 (7). LOB-Arizona 4, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Dunn (12). HR-SFinley (19), off PWilson. RBIs-LGonzalez (77), SFinley (56). SB-Kata (2). CS-Cintron (3). S-Counsell.

Runners left in scoring position-Arizona 2 (Hillenbrand, Mondesi); Cincinnati 3 (Larson, Branyan 2).

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Schilling W, 6-6	7	6	0	0	1	11	113	2.65
Oropesa H, 9	2/3	0	0	0	1	1	14	3.00
Valverde H, 5	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	1.52
Mantei S, 16	1	0	0	0	0	2	14	2.65

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 6-10	7	3	1	1	1	4	87	4.92
Sullivan	1	0	1	1	1	1	14	3.91
Heredia	2/3	1	0	0	1	0	9	2.51
Riedling	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	4.94

Sullivan pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Valverde 1-0, Heredia 1-1, Riedling 2-0.

Umpires-Home, Marty Foster; First, Fieldin Culbreth; Second, Terry Craft; Third, Charlie Reliford.

T-2:34. A-31,485 (42,263).

How the runs scored in Tuesday's game between the Diamondbacks and the Reds

Diamondbacks fifth. Finley homered to right on a 0-2 count. Mondesi grounded out, shortstop Larkin to first baseman Casey. Cintron fouled out to third baseman Larson. Barajas popped out to second baseman Jimenez. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Diamondbacks 1, Reds 0.

Diamondbacks ninth. Olmedo in as shortstop. Kata walked. Heredia pitching. Counsell sacrificed, first baseman Casey to second baseman Jimenez, Kata to second. L.Gonzalez singled to center, Kata scored. On LaRue's error, L.Gonzalez to second. Hillenbrand was intentionally walked. Finley grounded into fielder's choice, first baseman Casey to shortstop Olmedo, L.Gonzalez to third, Hillenbrand out. Riedling pitching. Mondesi grounded into fielder's choice, third baseman Larson to second baseman Jimenez, Finley out. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 left on. Diamondbacks 2, Reds 0.