By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds left fielder Ryan Freel leaps but can't come down with the ball, which cleared the wall to give the Diamondbacks' Junior Spivey a three-run homer in the first inning Thursday. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

PHOENIX - Danny Graves has had some hard luck during his seven-game losing streak.

But on Thursday night, it was hard-hit balls that did him in.

The Arizona Diamondbacks smacked Graves around pretty good in the first two innings to build a lead they never gave up in a 9-3 victory over the Reds Thursday night at Bank One Ballpark.

Former Red Elmer Dessens (7-7) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs to get the win.

Graves fell to 4-14 this season. No Reds pitcher has gone 4-14 since Joey Jay did in 1963.

Graves is 0-7 with a 6.19 ERA over his last 10 starts. He hasn't won since July 1 and is 1-12 since beating St. Louis 4-0 on May 14.

Graves had pitched well recently - four of his previous five outings were quality starts. He was a victim of a blown save in his most recent start, going seven innings and allowing only two runs against Houston.

But Thursday his problems started immediately. Matt Kata led off the game for the Diamondbacks with an infield single.

Graves got Alex Cintron to fly to deep left, but Luis Gonzalez and Carlos Baerga followed with singles. Baerga's scored Kata to put Arizona ahead 1-0.

Junior Spivey followed and worked the count full before fouling off two pitches. Graves offered a pitch that was a bit up, and Spivey sent it out to left field for his 13th home run of the season and a 4-0 Diamondbacks lead.

Graves gave up another run on Cintron's double in the second to make it 5-0. The way the Reds have struggled at the plate coming back from 5-0 is asking a lot.

The Reds did chip away at the lead. Reggie Taylor led off the third inning with his fifth home run of the year - a shot just inside the right-field foul pole.

The Reds made it 5-2 in the fourth. Barry Larkin doubled, moved up D'Angelo Jimenez's groundout and scored on Sean Casey's groundout.

The Reds chased Dessens in the fifth. Ryan Freel singled with one out and stole second. After Jimenez walked, Arizona brought in lefty Mike Myers to face Casey. Casey singled up the middle to score Freel, but Myers got Dernell Stenson on called third strike to end the threat.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel lf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.280
Larkin ss	3	1	1	0	0	0	.280
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Stinnett c	1	0	0	0	0	1	.244
DJimenez 2b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.297
Casey 1b	3	0	1	2	1	0	.292
Stenson rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.375
JCastro 3b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.253
Taylor cf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.218
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	1	.233
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Watson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.164
Graves p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.113
Olmedo ph-ss	2	0	1	0	0	0	.281
Totals	33	3	7	3	2	6

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Kata 3b	5	2	2	0	0	0	.287
Cintron ss	4	1	2	2	0	0	.307
LGonzalez lf	2	2	2	1	2	0	.310
Baerga 1b	3	1	1	1	0	1	.322
Hillenbrand ph-1b	1	1	1	2	0	0	.285
Spivey 2b	4	1	1	3	0	1	.265
SFinley cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.290
Bautista rf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.259
Hammock c	2	1	1	0	2	0	.311
Dessens p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.194
MMyers p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
McCracken ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.219
Villarreal p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mondesi ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.254
Oropesa p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	32	9	10	9	4	4

Cincinnati	001	101	000	-3	7	0
Arizona	410	000	40x	-9	10	1

E-LGonzalez (3). LOB-Cincinnati 5, Arizona 4. 2B-Larkin (16), Cintron (18), Hammock (6). 3B-Kata (3), LGonzalez (4). HR-Hillenbrand (11), off Heredia; Taylor (5), off Dessens; Spivey (13), off Graves. RBIs-Casey 2 (64), Taylor (19), Cintron 2 (40), LGonzalez (82), Baerga (35), Hillenbrand 2 (38), Spivey 3 (39). SB-Freel (5). S-Dessens. GIDP-LaRue, Kata. DP-Cincinnati 1, Arizona 1.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves L, 4-14	5	6	5	5	3	3	86	5.30
Riedling	1	2	2	2	1	0	20	5.40
Heredia	1	2	2	2	0	0	18	3.04
Watson	1	0	0	0	0	1	12	4.50

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dessens W, 7-7	5 2/3	3	3	3	1	2	80	4.93
MMyers H, 5	1/3	1	0	0	0	1	9	5.34
Villarreal H, 6	2	2	0	0	0	1	19	2.19
Oropesa	1	1	0	0	1	2	22	4.08

Inherited runners-scored-Heredia 1-1, MMyers 2-1.

Umpires-Home, Derryl Cousins; First, Andy Fletcher; Second, Joe Brinkman; Third, Mike DiMuro.

T-2:44. A-27,796 (49,033).