By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jason LaRue fields a ground ball at first base against Milwaukee Wednesday night. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

It wasn't smoke from the Reds' recently completed fire sale that set off the fire warnings at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.

It was just a false alarm that delayed the game's start by nine minutes. It also delayed the inevitable: another loss for the Reds.

The Brewers beat the Reds for the third straight night, 6-2 before a crowd of 18,069 - the smallest at Great American Ball Park.

Milwaukee has won nine straight games overall; Cincinnati has lost four straight.

Reds manager Dave Miley tinkered with his lineup to try to stir up some offense. He played Jason LaRue, normally a catcher, at first base and gave Sean Casey the night off against left-hander Wayne Franklin.

Without Casey, the last big-money player not hurt or traded, the Reds' starting nine had a total salary of just more than $4 million.

The Brewers' third and fourth hitters - Geoff Jenkins and Richie Sexson - make more than $5 million each.

The Brewers have what the Reds don't.

"Not to knock anyone," Miley said. "But it would be nice to have that prototypical 90-RBI guy in the middle of the lineup."

Little wonder Milwaukee has outscored Cincinnati 23-9 in the series. The Reds outhit the Brewers 12-9 Wednesday but left 12 on base and were 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

"Two runs, 12 hits," Miley said. "We had some opportunities. We didn't cash in."

Milwaukee pulled a game behind the Reds in the National League Central.

"It's pretty frustrating," Ryan Freel said. "We're going young right now. The guys have a lot of potential. I think we'll be OK. We just need more experience."

Seth Etherton made his third start for the Reds and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits.

"He pitched into the sixth and kept us in the game," Miley said.

Etherton (1-2) left down only 3-2. But Brian Reith allowed an inherited runner and two more to score. The bullpen, once Cincinnati's strength, was the most depleted by the salary dump.

Reith, who has a 7.43 ERA over his last 11 appearances, has let the game get away in his last two appearances.

For the third straight game, the Reds took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, on Ruben Mateo's RBI single. But they left the bases loaded.

Etherton had pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the first inning by getting two strikeouts, but he wasn't so fortunate in the second. Rookie Scott Podsednik hit an RBI single to center field.

Jenkins broke the tie in the third with a leadoff home run, his 27th homer of the year and third in three games against the Reds.

Cincinnati tied it in the fourth but blew a chance for a big inning.

Hummel led off with his first major-league hit - an opposite-field shot off the fence in right that just missed being a home run. Smitherman followed with a double to score Hummel, and Corky Miller singled for his first hit of the year. After Etherton sacrificed Miller to second, the Brewers walked Freel to get to Castro.

Castro ended the inning by grounding hard to third baseman Wes Helms, who started a 5-2-3 double play.

The Brewers took the lead with back-to-back, one-out doubles from Wes Helms and Keith Osik in the sixth. Osik was the last batter Etherton faced.

Reith followed and allowed an infield hit to Royce Clayton. Franklin then tried to bunt the runners over, but Reith failed to pick up the ball cleanly, and all hands were safe.

"That was the big play in the game," Miley said. "They were giving us an out and we didn't get it."

Podsednik followed with a two-run double, and Keith Ginter hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Podsednik cf	5	0	2	3	0	2	.315
KGinter 2b	3	0	0	1	1	0	.273
Jenkins lf	4	1	2	1	1	0	.293
Sexson 1b	4	0	0	0	1	2	.260
Vander Wal rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.260
Estrella p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
MSmith ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.375
LVizcaino p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Helms 3b	4	1	2	0	0	1	.255
Osik c	4	1	1	1	0	1	.239
Clayton ss	3	2	1	0	1	0	.223
WFranklin p	1	1	0	0	0	0	.148
Rusch p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.219
BClark ph-rf	1	0	1	0	0	0	.300
Totals	34	6	9	6	4	9

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	1	1	0	1	1	.269
JCastro ss	5	0	2	0	0	0	.257
DJimenez 2b	5	0	1	0	0	0	.290
RMateo rf	5	0	2	1	0	0	.253
LaRue 1b	5	0	0	0	0	2	.227
Hummel 3b	3	1	1	0	1	0	.250
Smitherman lf	4	0	2	1	0	0	.444
CMiller c	3	0	2	0	1	0	.250
Etherton p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Stinnett ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.237
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Stenson ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.296
Randall p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	37	2	12	2	3	4

Milwaukee	011	004	000	-6	9	0
Cincinnati	100	100	000	-2	12	1

E-Reith (1). LOB-Milwaukee 8, Cincinnati 12. 2B-Podsednik (20), Jenkins (30), Helms (19), Osik (10), Hummel (1), Smitherman 2 (2). HR-Jenkins (27), off Etherton. RBIs-Podsednik 3 (42), KGinter (31), Jenkins (94), Osik (18), RMateo (13), Smitherman (3). SB-Podsednik (31), BClark (10), Freel (7). S-WFranklin 2, Etherton. SF-KGinter. GIDP-JCastro. DP-Milwaukee 1.

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WFranklin W, 10-10	5 1/3	8	2	2	3	1	88	5.16
Rusch H, 4	1 2/3	2	0	0	0	2	33	6.98
Estrella	1	2	0	0	0	1	21	3.81
LVizcaino	1	0	0	0	0	0	16	7.11

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Etherton L, 1-2	5 1/3	6	4	4	3	6	102	6.06
Reith	1/3	2	2	1	0	0	11	4.71
PNorton	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	12.27
Riedling	2	1	0	0	0	2	25	5.10
Randall	1	0	0	0	1	1	20	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Rusch 2-0, Reith 1-1, PNorton 1-0.

IBB-off WFranklin (Freel) 1.

Umpires-Home, Bill Welke; First, Matt Hollowell; Second, John Hirschbeck; Third, Wally Bell.

T-3:16. A-18,069 (42,263).