By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ken Griffey Jr. acknowledges fans in the stands after his two-run home run off Cubs starter Greg Maddux in the third inning Wednesday. The Cincinnati Enquirer/JEFF SWINGER

Barry Larkin walks off the field in the fifth after the umpire called for a rain delay. The Cincinnati Enquirer/JEFF SWINGER

The Reds had their big bats - Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns - in the lineup for the first time in 87 games. And it made a big difference.

Home runs by Griffey and Dunn accounted for all the Reds' runs in their 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs and Greg Maddux at Great American Ball Park Wednesday night.

"All in all, it was a good day," Griffey said.

If you're a Reds fan, it was.

You had the big home runs. You had seven sensational innings from Paul Wilson. You had a bit of drama.

And you had Griffey, Dunn and Kearns together in the lineup for the first time since June 25.

Dunn homered in the second inning, and Griffey hit a two-run shot in the third.

That was enough for Wilson, who pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits.

Maddux, in his return to the Cubs, was good - six innings, three runs, four hits - except for the big swings by Dunn and Griffey.

The biggest drama of the night came after both starters were gone. Ryan Wagner came on in the eighth inning and got the first two hitters, then allowed back-to-back singles to bring up Sammy Sosa.

Wagner fell behind 2-0, then Sosa took a strike and swung through one. With the crowd of 30,201 on its feet and cheering, Wagner got Sosa to chase a low-and-away slider.

Wagner danced off the mound, pumping his fist all the way.

"I got caught up in the moment," Wagner said.

Danny Graves pitched the ninth, allowing a two-out home run to Derrek Lee, for his first save.

Griffey missed Opening Day with a strained right calf that had kept him out for a week.

"It felt good to finally get a chance to get out there," Griffey said. "The big thing was having a chance to have some fun."

He was cleared to play after going through agility drills Wednesday afternoon. It was his first real game since he tore a tendon in his ankle July 17.

You got the feeling early on that Maddux might not be quite himself. He hit the Reds' leadoff man, D'Angelo Jimenez, with his first pitch. A batter later, he hit Griffey. It was the first time in Maddux's career that he hit two batters in the same inning.

Dunn got the Reds on the scoreboard with a long blast to right - a shot of 415 feet.

"It was a cutter," Dunn said of the pitch. "I was looking for it, because he started D'Angelo, Junior and (Sean) Casey with the same pitch."

Maddux walked Jimenez with one out in the third. After Barry Larkin lined out, Griffey took a strike, then laced one.

"You know with (Maddux) he's going to be around the plate," Griffey said. "You try to make contact. I was able to get the ball up."

When it came down, it landed about halfway up the lawn in center field, an estimated 426 feet from home plate.

At that point, the Cubs had only one base-runner against Wilson.

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Grudzielanek 2b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.556
CPatterson cf	4	0	2	0	0	0	.429
SSosa rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Alou lf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.333
ARamirez 3b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.143
DeLee 1b	4	1	1	1	0	1	.143
ASGonzalez ss	4	0	1	0	0	0	.125
Bako c	3	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Maddux p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Wuertz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Hollndswrth ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Pratt p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	33	1	7	1	1	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	2	1	0	0	1	1	.500
Larkin ss	4	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Griffey Jr. cf	3	1	1	2	0	1	.333
Kearns rf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.143
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	0	2	.375
Dunn lf	2	1	1	1	1	0	.200
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Freel 3b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.143
JCastro 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
PWilson p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Valentin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	26	3	4	3	3	5

Chicago	000	000	001	-1	7	0
Cincinnati	012	000	00x	-3	4	0

LOB-Chicago 6, Cincinnati 5. 2B-Alou (2), Freel (1). HR-DeLee (1), off Graves; Griffey Jr. (1), off Maddux; Dunn (1), off Maddux. RBIs-DeLee (1), Griffey Jr. 2 (2), Dunn (1). CS-CPatterson (1), DJimenez (1). S-PWilson.

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Maddux L, 0-1	6	4	3	3	2	3	77	4.50
Wuertz	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	0.00
Pratt	1	0	0	0	1	1	15	0.00

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson W, 1-0	7	4	0	0	1	6	99	0.00
RWagner H, 1	1	2	0	0	0	1	14	0.00
Graves S, 1	1	1	1	1	0	0	12	9.00

HBP-by Maddux (Griffey Jr.), by Maddux (DJimenez). WP-PWilson. Umpires-Home, Tim Tschida; First, Jeff Nelson; Second, Marty Foster; Third, Joe Brinkman. T-2:10. A-30,201 (42,271).