By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds pitcher John Bale walks off the field after giving up four runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth inning Monday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

A beautiful full moon rose in center field Monday night as the Reds played Pittsburgh at Great American Ball Park.

It was a perfect crisp fall evening. A great night to be a baseball fan - just not a Reds fan.

The crowd of 19,073 watched a Reds lineup that consisted of two regulars, three backups and four players who started the season in the minors get overwhelmed 9-1 by a Pirate team that has been watered down by trades.

It's not going to get any better. The Reds announced during the game that Danny Graves and Paul Wilson have been shut down for the year. That leaves the Reds with only five players from the Opening Day lineup active.

"In spring training, I never would have thought it would come to this," said John Riedling, one of the five and the only pitcher left from Opening Day.

The results are obvious.

The Reds have lost 12 of 15 - the last three by a combined score of 30-7.

Monday's starter John Bale gave up a home run to Craig Wilson to lead off the second and then settled in nicely.

The Reds didn't get anything going offensively until the fifth.

Eric Valent and Jason LaRue singled back-to-back with one out. Wily Mo Pena got Valent in with a double. Pena is suddenly the Reds' hottest hitter. He's 9-for-his-last-23 (.391) with five RBI.

The Pirates figured out Bale in the sixth. They scored four runs. The last three came on back-to-back, two-out homers by Craig Wilson and Jason Bay.

"I don't know if he hit the wall or started leaving the ball up," Miley said.

Bale had a 2.76 ERA in his first five starts. He has a 9.00 ERA in his last two.

Bale was followed by right-hander Juan Cerros, late of Triple-A Louisville, formerly on loan to Monterrey of the Mexican League. Cerros became the 57th player and 30th pitcher used by the Reds this year. He became the first Red to wear No. 71.

It wasn't a good debut. He gave up a hit, struck out two batters, walked one, hit a batter and then gave up two singles.

The three runs he allowed made it 8-1.

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Reboulet 2b	5	1	2	0	0	1	.253
TRedman cf	4	1	1	1	1	0	.289
Kendall c	3	1	1	1	0	1	.323
RSanders rf	4	1	1	2	0	1	.277
Mackowiak ph-rf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.236
CWilson 1b	5	2	3	4	0	1	.259
Bay lf	4	1	2	1	1	0	.275
JHernandez 3b	5	0	0	0	0	2	.225
JWilson ss	3	2	2	0	1	0	.248
Fogg p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.216
Totals	37	9	12	9	3	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Olmedo 2b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.255
JCastro ss	4	0	3	0	0	0	.265
Casey 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.285
Stenson 1b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.271
Branyan lf-3b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.209
Hummel 3b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.211
Randall p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
CMiller ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.222
Valent rf	4	1	1	0	0	2	.238
LaRue c	4	0	2	0	0	1	.230
WPena cf	3	0	2	1	0	0	.210
Bale p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.071
Cerros p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Smitherman lf	1	0	0	0	0	1	.176
Totals	34	1	10	1	0	9

Pittsburgh	010	004	310	-9	12	0
Cincinnati	000	010	000	-1	10	1

E-LaRue (9). LOB-Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 6. 2B-TRedman (10), JCastro (13), WPena 2 (5). HR-Bay (2), off Bale; CWilson 2 (14), off Bale 2. RBIs-TRedman (14), Kendall (51), RSanders 2 (80), CWilson 4 (39), Bay (5), WPena (9). SB-RSanders (13), JWilson (5). S-Fogg. SF-Kendall. GIDP-Casey, WPena.

Runners left in scoring position-Pittsburgh 3 (Kendall, JHernandez 2); Cincinnati 4 (Olmedo 2, Branyan, Smitherman).

Runners moved up-TRedman.

DP-Pittsburgh 3 (JWilson, Reboulet and CWilson), (Reboulet and JWilson), (CWilson, JWilson and CWilson).

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Fogg W, 9-8	9	10	1	1	0	9	113	4.76

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Bale L, 1-2	6	6	5	5	1	3	97	4.24
Cerros	2/3	3	3	3	1	2	30	40.50
Randall	2 1/3	3	1	1	1	3	32	5.23

Inherited runners-scored-Randall 2-0.

HBP-by Cerros (Kendall).

T-2:32. A-19,073 (42,263).