By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CHICAGO - As it turned out, the 29 hits, 19 runs, six home runs, two ejections, one very odd call and a boatload of drama were all just a prelude to the bottom of the ninth.

The Reds' game with the Chicago Cubs came down to Danny Graves versus Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou.

Sosa and Alou won.

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View photos from Friday's Reds game

They hit back-to-back home runs in the span of three pitches and the Cubs dealt a heartbreaking 11-10 loss to the Reds at windy Wrigley Field.

"It was one of the weirdest, coolest, strangest games I've ever been part of," the Reds' Sean Casey said.

From the Cubs' perspective, this was one of the more dramatic victories in the storied history of Wrigley.

From the Reds' perspective, this was another disheartening bullpen collapse.

"They did a good job of coming back," Reds reliever Todd Jones said. "But we've got to hold that lead, to be honest with you."

The Reds led 9-4 after putting up five runs in the sixth, but for the second straight day they blew a big lead in late innings.

Thursday, the Phillies scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings to win 6-4. Friday, the Cubs scored seven runs from the sixth through the ninth.

Graves, who had been perfect in four save tries this year, came in with a 10-9 lead. He first faced Sosa.

"I'm going right after him," Graves said of his approach.

Graves nearly got him. With the count 2-2, Graves threw a pitch that looked like a strike. But home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor called it a ball to make it a full count.

"There were a lot of pitches that were close," Graves said. "... He laid off some pitches and made me throw a strike. He got one he could juice."

It was thoroughly juiced to right-center to tie the game at 10, and tie Sosa with Ernie Banks for the Cubs' career homer lead with 512.

With the crowd still buzzing, Alou took a ball.

He crushed the next pitch. The Reds were walking off the field before it landed.

"It was a pretty good slugfest," said Reds manager Dave Miley, who was ejected in the fourth for arguing after Bucknor called out Casey on strikes on a pitch that appeared high and outside. "It seemed like whoever got the last at-bat was going to win."

The Reds broke open this one - or so it seemed - with five runs in the sixth for a 9-5 lead. The big blows were two-run homers by D'Angelo Jimenez and Ken Griffey Jr.

That seemed like a safe lead. Despite the collapse Thursday against the Phillies, the Reds' bullpen came in with a 2.05 ERA.

The wind was blowing out, but Jones didn't use that excuse.

"Those balls that were hit in the late innings didn't have anything to do with the wind," he said.

The game took a strange turn in the seventh. Ramon Martinez led off with a double off of John Riedling - or so it seemed. Bench coach Jerry Narron, by then the acting manager, came out of the dugout as soon as Martinez coasted into second.

After Narron, crew chief Mike Reilly and Bucknor had a short chat by the third-base line, Bucknor threw up his thumb for the out sign, ruling Martinez, who had come in the top of the seventh at shortstop, had batted out of order.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker vehemently disagreed. Baker threw his lineup card, his hat (twice), the pine tar rag and a weighted bat. He was ejected, of course. The fans chanted, "Dusty! Dusty! Dusty!" and things we can't print. The bleacher people also littered the outfield with trash.

When order was restored, Phil Norton took over for Riedling and proceeded to get in deep trouble. He gave up a single to Todd Walker and a double to Corey Patterson before the Reds brought in Brian Reith.

Reith had about as eventful a two-thirds of an inning as you'll see. He walked Sosa on five pitches. He then got Alou to take a called third strike.

Aramis Ramirez drove in his fourth and fifth runs of the game with a double. That made the score 9-7 with the tying runs in scoring position, but Reith got Derrek Lee to take a 3-2 pitch for a called third strike.

Wily Mo Pena hit his first home run of the year - a shot to left-center that landed on Waveland Avenue - with one out in the eighth. That kept the Reds in the lead after Todd Hollandsworth hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth off Jones.

It was still 10-9 at that point. But the Reds were bleeding.

"The runs you give up before the ninth are as big as runs in the ninth," Miley said. That's true, but it sure didn't seem that way after watching Sosa and Alou's homers sail out.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	5	2	3	2	1	1	.353
JCastro ss-3b	6	2	2	0	0	1	.208
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	1	2	2	0	.267
Casey 1b	5	1	2	1	1	1	.400
Dunn lf	4	2	2	0	2	1	.357
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Freel 3b-rf	6	0	2	1	0	0	.286
WPena rf-lf	3	1	2	2	2	0	.333
CMiller c	4	0	0	1	1	1	.000
Harang p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Larkin ph	2	1	1	0	0	1	.174
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
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Olmedo ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	42	10	15	9	9	8

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
TWalker 2b	4	2	2	0	1	2	.346
CPatterson cf	5	2	2	0	0	2	.278
SSosa rf	3	1	1	1	2	1	.297
Alou lf	5	3	4	3	0	1	.300
ARamirez 3b	4	1	4	5	0	0	.349
DeLee 1b	4	0	0	0	0	3	.250
Barrett c	4	0	2	0	0	0	.357
ASGonzalez ss	3	0	0	0	0	1	.182
REMartinez ss	1	1	0	0	0	0	.182
Mitre p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Wuertz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Wellemeyer p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mercker p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Farnsworth p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Hollandsworth ph	1	1	1	2	0	0	.231
Borowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	11	16	11	3	11

Cincinnati	202	005	010	-10	15	0
Chicago	103	001	222	-11	16	2

No outs when winning run scored.

E-ARamirez (1), Barrett (1). LOB-Cin. 14, Chi. 5. 2B-Casey (4), Freel (2), CPattersn 2 (2), Alou (4), ARamirez 2 (7). HR-SSosa (2), off Graves; Hollndswrth (3), off TJones; WPena (1), off Farnswrth; Griffey Jr. (3), off Wuertz; DJimenez (1), off Wuertz; ARamirez (4), off Harang; Alou 2 (5), off Graves, Harang. RBIs-DJimenez 2 (6), Griffey Jr. 2 (7), Casey (9), Freel (2), WPena 2 (2), CMiller (1), SSosa (6), Alou 3 (11), ARamirez 5 (10), Hollndswrth 2 (4). GIDP-CMiller, DeLee. DP-Cin. 3, Chi. 1.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Harang	5	7	4	4	2	6	76	4.09
Riedling	1 1/3	2	1	1	0	1	15	1.69
PNorton	0	2	2	2	0	0	11	9.00
Reith H, 2	2/3	1	0	0	1	2	20	0.00
TJones H, 2	1	2	2	2	0	2	17	3.86
Graves L, 0-1; BS, 1	0	2	2	2	0	0	11	6.75

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Mitre	5	8	4	4	4	5	93	4.26
Wuertz	1/3	4	5	5	1	0	21	12.15
Wellemeyer	2/3	1	0	0	2	1	27	1.80
Mercker	1	1	0	0	0	1	12	1.50
Farnsworth	1	1	1	1	0	0	15	8.44
Borowski W, 1-0	1	0	0	0	2	1	23	6.75

PNorton pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Graves pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Reith 2-2, Wellemeyer 1-1.

IBB-off Wellemeyer (WPena) 1. PB-CMiller, Barrett.

Umpires-Home, C.B. Bucknor; First, Eric Cooper; Second, Mike Reilly; Third, Chuck Meriwether.

T-3:19. A-40,173 (39,345).