By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CHICAGO - Saturday was the perfect example of why Danny Graves likes the closer's life.

Friday's game blew up in his face. The home runs he gave up to Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou were the deciding runs in the Cubs' 11-10 win.

Saturday, he nailed down the final three outs in the Reds' 3-2 win over the Cubs.

PHOTO GALLERY

8 Photos of Saturday's game

"That's the whole reason I like closing," Graves said. "If you get beat you can come back the next day and redeem yourself. When you start and you take a tough loss, you have four days to dwell on it."

Graves dealt with that a lot last year during the failed experiment as a starter. He went 4-15 and ended the season with an eight-game losing streak.

After Friday's loss, Graves hoped his next save chance would come Saturday.

"The quicker the better," Graves said.

The save - Graves' fifth in six tries - was relatively routine. He gave up a leadoff single to Aramis Ramirez and then got a fly ball and two groundouts to end it.

The save was No. 136 for Graves, 12 short of John Franco's Reds' record.

OH WILY MO: Wily Mo Pena, Saturday's hero, was in the starting lineup, partly because Austin Kearns' left hand is still sore, partly because one good start deserves another.

Before Friday, Pena had three plate appearances as a pinch-hitter. He struck out all three times.

But Friday, he went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI.

"The most impressive thing he did was take the walk," hitting coach Chris Chambliss said.

The walk came in Pena's first at-bat. It was a signal to Cubs pitchers that Pena wasn't going to chase every slider in the dirt.

That was the book on him previously. He's well aware of that.

"The walk helped me," he said. "Then I got fastballs down the middle. I try to be more patient - lay off that stuff."

Pena, the 22-year-old with tons of raw talent, remains a walking, talking Catch-22. Pena plays well when he plays steadily, but there's nowhere for the Reds to play him. So he often sits for long periods between pinch-hit appearances.

"He's a big guy with a big swing," Chambliss said. "It's tough for a player like him coming off the bench."

Pena had a good spring - .373, three home runs, 11 RBI. He admitted he had no idea if his stroke would be back once he got in the lineup.

"I work hard always," he said. "But you don't play, you don't know."

LARKIN BACK: Barry Larkin only missed two starts with his sore right forearm, but it seemed longer.

"It seemed like forever," Larkin said.

That's because the Reds had an off day and a rainout in the interim. Larkin was back in the lineup Friday.

Larkin says he's not quite 100 percent.

"I don't feel it on the routine throws," he said. "But if I really have to stretch out I feel it some."

NINE IN A ROW: Graves' loss Friday was his ninth straight dating to July 1 of last year.

Graves equaled Dave Burba and bullpen coach Tom Hume for the longest losing streaks since Jim Merritt lost 13 in a row from Aug. 30, 1970 to Aug. 3, 1971.

DEATH IN FAMILY: Ken Griffey Jr.'s maternal grandfather, Curtis Littleton, died Thursday in Florida. Griffey was waiting to find out the arrangements.

FARM REPORT: Brandon Larson continues to hit the ball well on his rehab assignment at Triple-A Louisville. Larson went 1-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in the Bats' 10-9 loss to Norfolk Saturday. Felipe Lopez, Reggie Taylor and Dane Sardinha also homered for Louisville.

UP NEXT: The Reds and Cubs play the third game of their four-game series today at 2:20 p.m. Right-hander Paul Wilson (2-0, 0.63 ERA) faces right-hander Greg Maddux (0-2, 7.45). The game is on Fox Sports Net.

REDS FACT: Wilson is 0-3 with a 6.88 ERA all-time at Wrigley Field.