By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Reds were back in the game. As soon as Adam Dunn squeezed the ball, they would have two more innings to score a run and see what happened.

But Dunn didn't squeeze it.

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"I clunked it," Dunn said. "It's one of those things that shouldn't happen . . . and it's the worst feeling in sports."

Alex Gonzalez's drive to left field popped out of Dunn's glove, and two bobbles later - one by Dunn, one by center fielder Ryan Freel - the ball was on the grass and the game had changed.

Dunn's two-run error led to two unearned runs, and in the blink of an eye, the Reds were on their way to a 7-4 Opening Day loss to the Chicago Cubs before a crowd of 42,122 on a sunny, chilly Monday at Great American Ball Park.

A lot of good things happened for the Reds, however:

• They came back from a 4-0 deficit against Kerry Wood, one of the game's premier pitchers.

• Two of their four runs were a result of playing small ball effectively.

• The relief corps pitched four innings without allowing an earned run.

But this Reds' team has a small margin for error, and Dunn's error was a big one.

It was a 5-4 game at the time. Ryan Wagner had struck out the first two batters of the eighth. He then walked Derrek Lee.

Gonzalez's ball was well hit.

"As soon as he hit it," Reds manager Dave Miley said, "I saw Adam put his hand up to block the sun. I knew it was going to be a tough play."

Dunn was looking right into the sun as the ball flew toward him.

"I'm not going to blame that," he said.

Lee scored on the play. Michael Barrett followed with a single to get Gonzalez in and make it 7-4.

The Reds ended up losing the game by three runs, so it's not fair to say that Dunn's play cost them the game, but it changed things drastically.

Sean Casey led off the eighth with a single. If it's still a one-run game, the Reds play for one run at that point.

"It definitely changed the game," Miley said. "We were trying to keep it to one run. You obviously have more options that way than how it played out."

Along about the third inning, it looked as if the Reds would go quietly in this one.

Corey Patterson gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead by hitting Cory Lidle's fourth pitch of the game way out to right field.

Lidle's real trouble came in the third. He retired the first two hitters, then got away from the throw-strikes edict that has been the pitching theme of the spring.

He gave up a single to Mark Grudzielanek, hit Patterson with a pitch and walked Sammy Sosa. Lidle went to 3-2 on Moises Alou before Alou ripped one into left for a three-run double.

That made it 4-0. Not good against Wood.

He was 5-0 with a 1.02 ERA this spring, having allowed three earned runs in 25 2/3 innings.

But the Reds got two runs back in their half of the third. Freel reached on a strikeout/wild pitch, and Juan Castro walked. Lidle got them over with a sacrifice bunt.

D'Angelo Jimenez, who went 3-for-4, scored Freel by dropping a single into center. Castro scored on Barry Larkin's groundout.

The Cubs added a run in the fourth on Barrett's triple and Wood's infield single.

But the Reds closed to a one-run deficit in the fifth on Casey's two-run double into the left-center field gap.

Until Dunn's drop, the Reds were in good shape for a late-inning comeback.

"We battled and did what we had to do," Dunn said. "But we didn't make the plays we had to."

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Grudzielanek 2b	5	1	3	0	0	1	.600
CPatterson cf	3	2	1	1	1	1	.333
SSosa rf	4	1	0	0	1	1	.000
Alou lf	5	0	2	3	0	1	.400
ARamirez 3b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
DeLee 1b	3	1	0	0	1	2	.000
ASGonzalez ss	4	1	0	0	0	0	.000
Barrett c	4	1	2	1	0	0	.500
Wood p	2	0	1	1	0	0	.500
Wuertz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Goodwin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
TWalker ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Farnsworth p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Borowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	7	10	6	3	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	1	3	1	1	0	.750
Larkin ss	4	1	0	1	1	1	.000
Casey 1b	4	0	2	2	0	2	.500
Kearns rf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.000
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Freel cf	4	1	0	0	0	2	.000
JCastro 3b	3	1	0	0	1	1	.000
Lidle p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valentin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Olmedo ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	---
Totals	32	4	6	4	5	11

Chicago	103	100	020	-7	10	1
Cincinnati	002	020	000	-4	6	1

E-ASGonzalez (1), Dunn (1). LOB-Chicago 6, Cincinnati 7. 2B-Alou (1), Casey (1). 3B-Barrett (1). HR-CPatterson (1), off Lidle. RBIs-CPatterson (1), Alou 3 (3), Barrett (1), Wood (1), DJimenez (1), Larkin (1), Casey 2 (2). SB-Freel (1). S-Lidle. GIDP-Larkin, LaRue.

Runners left in scoring position-Chicago 1 (DeLee); Cincinnati 4 (Larkin, Casey, Dunn, JCastro).

Runners moved up-SSosa, Larkin.

DP-Chicago 2 (Grudzielanek and DeLee), (ARamirez, Grudzielanek and DeLee); Cincinnati 1 (Freel, LaRue and JCastro).

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Wood W, 1-0	5	5	4	4	3	6	95	7.20
Wuertz H, 1	1	0	0	0	0	2	13	0.00
Mercker H, 1	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	0.00
Farnsworth H, 1	1	1	0	0	0	1	15	0.00
Borowski S, 1	1	0	0	0	2	2	28	0.00

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle L, 0-1	5	6	5	5	1	4	79	9.00
Riedling	1	0	0	0	0	1	14	0.00
PNorton	2/3	1	0	0	0	0	9	0.00
Reith	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	0.00
RWagner	1	1	2	0	1	2	23	0.00
TJones	1	2	0	0	1	0	15	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Reith 1-0.

HBP-by Lidle (CPatterson). WP-Wood. PB-LaRue.

Umpires-Home, Joe Brinkman; First, Tim Tschida; Second, Jeff Nelson; Third, Marty Foster.

T-2:50. A-42,122 (42,263).