By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds' Dan Serafini caught a bunt and tried to pick St. Louis' Bo Hart off third base, but threw it into left field. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

ST. LOUIS - When you assemble a roster like the Reds have - a few minor-leaguers here, a Mexican League player there, a waiver pickup added - it's a disaster waiting to happen.

The disaster happened Saturday. The Reds lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 13-6 in what was probably the worst display of baseball by the team this season.

"That was ugly," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "That's the first time we've had one like that since I took over. Hopefully it's the last."

The Reds committed a season-high five errors - and only through very kind scoring decisions did they avoid a sixth and a seventh.

They threw the ball around like a softball team that had too many pregame beers. As a result, they logged more mileage chasing errant throws than they did running the bases.

"That was as bad as it gets," Miley said. "The official scorer was pretty generous, or we could have had a couple, three more."

"It was one of those days when you make one error and then it just escalates," said catcher Jason LaRue, who left the game after fouling a ball off his foot.

The day started well. Juan Castro and D'Angelo Jimenez singled with one out in the first. They scored on Sean Casey's double into the left-field corner, and LaRue brought Casey home with a single.

But starting pitcher Danny Serafini gave up the 3-0 lead in the bottom of the inning after getting the first two batters.

Albert Pujols hit his second home run in as many days.

"I gave him a pitch to hit," Serafini said. "I had a three-run lead. I didn't want to walk him. Unfortunately, I walked the next two."

The first defensive mistake followed the walks.

Eli Marrero hit the ball to deep center. Wily Mo Pena froze, turned the wrong way, then had the ball go off his glove. It was scored a triple.

"He misjudged it and had it go off his glove," Miley said. "That's two chances."

The Cardinals added two runs in the second. Serafini's throwing error allowed one to score.

The third was the inning from hell. Six hits, two errors and one walk resulted in five runs. Brian Reith came on to get the final out, but the Cardinals had a 10-3 lead by then.

"With better defense, (Serafini) might have only given up three or four runs," Miley said.

Serafini, the Mexican League pickup, is 0-3 with a 7.24 ERA in three starts. He didn't use the excuse.

"I'm the one who gave up 11 hits in two innings," he said. "It's hard to do that when you're trying."

The Reds got back in the game briefly. Jimenez hit a three-run home run - his fourth - in the fifth to make it 10-6.

But the Cardinals added a run in the fifth and two more in the eighth.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Valent rf	5	1	2	0	0	2	.308
JCastro ss	4	2	2	0	0	0	.255
Randall p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Hall p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Olmedo ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.256
DJimenez 2b	5	2	3	3	0	1	.315
Casey 1b	5	1	1	2	0	0	.287
Branyan 3b	1	0	0	0	3	1	.215
LaRue c	2	0	1	1	0	0	.229
Sardinha ph-c	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Stenson lf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.289
WPena cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.191
Serafini p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Reith p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Hummel ph-ss	2	0	0	0	0	1	.242
Totals	37	6	10	6	3	9

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Hart 2b	5	2	4	3	0	0	.285
Cairo lf	4	1	1	2	0	0	.254
Pujols 1b	2	2	2	1	3	0	.365
Rolen 3b	3	2	1	1	2	0	.285
Renteria ss	4	1	2	1	1	0	.326
Marrero rf	4	1	2	3	0	2	.241
Matheny c	5	1	0	0	0	0	.242
Girardi c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.056
Taguchi cf	5	1	1	1	0	1	.303
WWilliams p	2	2	2	0	0	0	.258
Kline p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Edmonds ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.284
DeJean p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Stephenson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.190
Totals	35	13	15	12	6	4

Cincinnati	300	030	000	-6	10	5
St. Louis	325	010	02x	-13	15	0

E-DJimenez (2), Casey (6), Branyan (3), Stenson (1), Serafini (1). LOB-Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 7. 2B-Casey (17), Hart (12), WWilliams (4). 3B-Hart (5), Marrero (2). HR-DJimenez (5), off WWilliams; Pujols (39), off Serafini. RBIs-DJimenez 3 (22), Casey 2 (70), LaRue (47), Hart 3 (24), Cairo 2 (29), Pujols (118), Rolen (94), Renteria (83), Marrero 3 (18), Taguchi (6). CS-Renteria (6). S-WWilliams. SF-Cairo, Marrero. GIDP-Cairo.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 1 (JCastro); St. Louis 2 (Renteria, Matheny).

DP-Cincinnati 2 (DJimenez), (Branyan, DJimenez and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Serafini L, 0-3	2 2/3	11	10	5	3	0	75	7.24
Reith	2 1/3	2	1	1	1	2	35	4.60
Randall	2	1	0	0	0	2	23	5.63
Hall	1	1	2	2	2	0	26	6.00

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WWilliams W, 15-8	6	9	6	6	2	8	117	3.84
Kline	1	0	0	0	1	0	14	4.03
DeJean	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	4.74
Stephenson	1	1	0	0	0	0	19	4.60

Inherited runners-scored-Reith 2-0.

IBB-off Reith (Pujols) 1. WP-Serafini.

Umpires-Home, Marvin Hudson; First, Scott Nelson; Second, Jerry Layne; Third, Gary Darling.

T-2:59. A-39,718 (50,354).