By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PITTSBURGH - Adam Dunn is picking his spots better. If you're going to hit a home run, you might as well make it count. Dunn did Friday night.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

His three-run blast - emphasis on blast - in the fifth inning was the difference in the Reds' 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before a crowd of 17,350 at PNC Park.

After starting the season with five solo home runs, Dunn's last three have been a three-runner, a two-runner and a three-runner.

Dunn drove in one of the Reds' other runs with a bases-loaded walk.

Paul Wilson (3-0) went five innings, allowing all four runs.

Relievers John Riedling, Todd Jones and Danny Graves pitched four innings of one-hit ball to close it out. Graves earned his eighth save.

The victory kept the Reds (10-6) in a tie with the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central.

The Reds loaded the bases in the first with two outs and came away with nothing.

Pittsburgh starter Kip Wells settled down to pitch a 1-2-3 second.

But the Reds got to him in the third. D'Angelo Jimenez led off the inning by singling into center to snap a career-high 0-for-24 skid. Barry Larkin followed with a walk. Sean Casey singled over shortstop Jack Wilson's head to load the bases.

Dunn took a 3-2 pitch that was just outside for a walk to force in a run.

Austin Kearns followed. He hit a shot right at shortstop Wilson. The ball went off Wilson's glove, but he recovered to force Dunn at second. But Kearns beat the relay to first and Larkin scored to make it 2-0. Jason LaRue followed with a groundball at third baseman Chris Stynes, who turned it into an inning-ending double play.The Pirates answered quickly. They started the third with four straight hits - two of them doubles. It added up to three runs, and the Pirates had a 3-2 lead.

The Reds took the lead back in the fifth. Larkin singled with one out. Casey then hit a double-play ball to Wells. But his throw to second was high and just a bit outside. It pulled Wilson off the bag, and all hands were safe.

Wells fell behind Dunn 3-0. Dunn took a strike, then Wells put another one in Dunn's wheelhouse. A millisecond later, it was headed for the Allegheny River. It would have made the water, but it hit a concession stand on the walkway between the right-field seats and the river.

And just like that the Reds led 5-3.

The shot was estimated at 431 feet. All eight of Dunn's homers have gone at least 400 feet. They've averaged 423 feet.

Dunn has owned Wells. The homer was his second off him. Overall, Dunn is 9-for-21 (.429) versus Wells.

The Pirates got a run back in the fifth on Craig Wilson's RBI double.

Wilson was out after five innings. He gave up nine hits, walked a batter and hit two others.

That left the struggling bullpen with a one-run lead to protect for four innings.

Riedling pitched the sixth and seventh, allowing only a walk. Riedling lowered his ERA to 1.04.

After Jones pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, striking out two, the Reds added a run in the ninth. Wily Mo Pena, after falling behind 0-2, walked. He went to third on Juan Castro's hit-and-run single. Jimenez got Pena in with a fielder's choice groundball.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	5	1	1	1	0	0	.213
Larkin ss	4	2	2	0	1	0	.245
Casey 1b	5	1	2	0	0	0	.417
Dunn lf	4	1	2	4	1	1	.367
Kearns rf	3	0	0	1	1	0	.130
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	0	.167
WPena cf	3	1	0	0	1	1	.278
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Freel 3b-cf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.254
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.125
Romano ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JCastro ph-3b	1	0	1	0	0	0	.290
Totals	35	6	8	6	5	5

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
TRedman cf	5	1	1	0	0	0	.269
JWilson ss	5	1	3	0	0	0	.390
Kendall c	3	1	1	1	1	0	.354
Mondesi lf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.276
Simon 1b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.161
CWilson rf	2	0	1	1	1	0	.357
Hill 2b	4	0	2	1	0	1	.290
Stynes 3b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.209
KWells p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Mackowiak ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.278
Meadows p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Grabow p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
ANunez ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.316
STorres p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Johnston p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	37	4	10	3	2	5

Cincinnati	002	030	001	-6	8	1
Pittsburgh	003	010	000	-4	10	1

E-Freel (4), KWells (1). LOB-Cincinnati 7, Pittsburgh 10. 2B-TRedman (3), JWilson (6), Mondesi (4), CWilson (7). HR-Dunn (8), off KWells. RBI-DJimenez (8), Dunn 4 (15), Kearns (5), Kendall (9), CWilson (9), Hill (3). CS-Freel (1). GIDP-LaRue.

DP-Pittsburgh 1 (Stynes, Hill and Simon).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson W, 3-0	5	9	4	4	1	1	78	4.13
Riedling H, 1	2	0	0	0	1	1	23	1.04
TJones H, 4	1	0	0	0	0	2	17	3.60
Graves S, 8	1	1	0	0	0	1	12	4.00

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
KWells L, 2-2	5	6	5	4	4	3	95	3.00
Meadows	1	0	0	0	0	1	8	1.69
Grabow	2	0	0	0	0	1	20	2.45
Storres	2/3	1	1	1	1	0	26	6.75
Johnston	1/3	1	0	0	0	0	9	0.00

HBP-by PWilson (CWilson), by PWilson (Kendall).

Umpires-Home, Charlie Reliford; First, Jeff Kellogg; Second, Doug Eddings; Third, Dan Iassogna.

T-2:56. A-17,350 (38,496).