By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The $100 bill, folded in half and taped to his locker door, was Cory Lidle's reward.

A generous teammate placed it there Saturday afternoon, along with a message scribbled in black marker.

"Congratulations on your first win as a Red."

The gesture astounded Lidle.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

"I'll take one of those every time we get a win," the Reds pitcher said with a disbelieving smile. "That's not in the contract, but I'll take it."

By practicing the basic fundamentals coaches ingrained in them during spring training, Lidle and the Reds beat the Pirates 3-1 before 23,449 fans at Great American Ball Park.

Pitchers threw strikes. The defense played error-free. And hitters provided enough offense for Cincinnati's fourth straight win.

"These guys are pulling for each other," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "When you play good baseball and do the things to get better, the confidence level picks up a little bit."

These are heady, early-season days for a team picked to do little.

The Reds are off to their best start in a decade and lead the National League Central standings entering today's homestand finale.

Much of the credit goes to the pitching staff.

Lidle's start - seven innings, six hits, one earned run, three strikeouts and no walks - was the fourth consecutive quality outing by a Reds starter.

Cincinnati led 2-1 when he was pulled after the seventh inning. Ryan Wagner and Danny Graves each pitched one scoreless inning of relief.

"That's such a big part of the game - pounding the strike zone, not getting yourself in trouble," Miley said. "I'm also happy with the way we've gone about playing defense."

The Reds played their third error-free game Saturday.

Two head's-up plays prevented the Pirates from getting the chance to score.

"I think at one time we were last in doing all the little things, the fundamentals. That's embarrassing," third baseman Ryan Freel said. "But I think what we did in spring training is leading into the season now."

Pirates center fielder Tike Redman came to bat with Abraham Nunez on second base after a leadoff double off Wagner.

Cincinnati second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez positioned himself closer to the infield grass in anticipation of a bunt by Redman.

Redman instead grounded a ball to Jimenez, who fielded the ball, looked up and saw Nunez break toward third base.

He then threw to third base where Freel tagged out Nunez for the first out.

"I saw I had a chance at third base and just threw it," Jimenez said.

Before he threw another pitch, Wagner picked off Redman at first base for the second out. Jack Wilson flew out to center to end the inning.

"I just wanted to keep him honest, let him know that I knew he was there," Wagner said. "I just threw my best move over there and luckily caught him off guard."

Graves pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in four days.

Jimenez accounted for the Reds' second and third runs of the game.

A sacrifice fly in the sixth inning scored Freel from third to give the Reds the 2-1 lead. His double in the eighth inning scored catcher Jason LaRue.

Left fielder Adam Dunn hit a 421-foot home run to tie the game at one in the fourth inning.

"It's important to get off to this kind of start just so we know early that we can do it instead of waiting until the second or third month of the season to figure out we can play ball here," Lidle said.

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
TRedman cf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.250
JWilson ss	3	0	2	1	0	0	.444
Mondesi lf	4	0	0	0	0	3	.158
Simon 1b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.167
JDavis rf	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Hill ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.385
CWilson rf-1b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.400
Mackowiak 3b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.143
Cota c	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Castillo 2b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Grabow p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Boyd p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Wells p	2	1	2	0	0	0	.667
ANunez 2b	1	0	1	0	0	0	.600
Totals	31	1	7	1	0	4

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	3	0	2	2	1	0	.313
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	0	2	.125
JCastro ss-3b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.111
Griffey Jr. cf	3	0	2	0	1	0	.429
Kearns rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.158
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.444
Dunn lf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.286
LaRue c	3	1	0	0	0	0	.000
Freel 3b	3	1	2	0	0	0	.278
Olmedo ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Lidle p	1	0	0	0	2	1	.000
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valentin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	31	3	9	3	4	7

Pittsburgh	001	000	000	-1	7	1
Cincinnati	000	101	01x	-3	9	0

E-Boyd (1). LOB-Pittsburgh 4, Cincinnati 11. 2B-JWilson (3), ANunez (1), DJimenez (1), Griffey Jr. (1), Casey (3). 3B-Wells (1), Freel (1). HR-Dunn (3), off Wells. RBIs-JWilson (3), DJimenez 2 (4), Dunn (3). SB-JWilson (1). S-Freel. SF-JWilson, DJimenez. GIDP-Castillo.

Runners left in scoring position-Pittsburgh 2 (Simon, CWilson); Cincinnati 7 (Larkin 2, JCastro, Kearns, Casey, Dunn 2).

Runners moved up-Casey.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey).

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Wells L, 1-1	6	7	2	2	4	7	114	1.50
Grabow	1	1	0	0	0	0	10	0.00
Boyd	1	1	1	1	0	0	14	3.00

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle W, 1-1	7	6	1	1	0	3	99	4.50
RWagner H, 2	1	1	0	0	0	0	13	0.00
Graves S, 3	1	0	0	0	0	1	14	3.00

HBP-by Boyd (LaRue).

Umpires-Home, Ed Rapuano; First, Ted Barrett; Second, Alfonso Marquez; Third, Rick Reed.

T-2:45. A-23,449 (42,271).