By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds manager Dave Miley would do it again.

With the bases empty and two outs in the seventh inning in a 0-0 game, he'd walk Barry Bonds again.

It didn't work out so well Friday night. Miley intentionally walked Bonds in front of Pedro Feliz, who promptly hit a home run.

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Photos of Friday's game

The game turned with the swing of Feliz's bat, and the San Francisco Giants went on to beat the Reds 6-1 Friday night before a crowd of 34,448 at Great American Ball Park.

"It's well documented what this guy can do with one swing of the bat," Miley said of Bonds. "He's the one guy going into the series you don't want to beat you."

Miley knew he had little room for error. Kirk Rueter, a noted Reds killer, was on the mound and cruising.

Miley had let Reds starter Cory Lidle pitch to Bonds in the second and fourth innings, which Bonds led off. But in the seventh, Miley threw up four fingers, signaling an intentional walk, before Bonds got close to the plate.

It was the 25th time Bonds has been walked intentionally this season. No one team has more than 14.

"The results obviously weren't what we wanted,' Miley said. "It was a tough decision. Sometimes they work out. Sometimes they don't."

It's unclear what Lidle thought of Miley's call. Lidle was gone by the time the media were allowed into the clubhouse.

Reds shortstop Barry Larkin didn't second-guess Miley.

"No," Larkin said. "The man is phenomenal. You take your chances with somebody else. That's baseball."

The two runs were plenty for Reuter, who came into the game 0-3 with a 7.06 ERA and had not made it through the fifth inning in his previous three starts.

There's nothing like facing the Reds to get Rueter rolling. He came into Friday 10-1 with 3.02 ERA in 15 starts versus Cincinnati - this from a guy who was 119-76 with 4.16 ERA overall.

All he did Friday was throw eight innings of three-hit shutout ball. He retired the first 14 batters he faced and eight of the last nine.

"He was painting the corners," Ryan Freel said. "We kind of fell into his game plan."

Lidle was with him pitch for pitch until the Bonds-Feliz sequence. Feliz's home run was second hit Lidle gave up. He would give up five more hits and four more runs after it.

Lidle retired the first 13 batters he faced - five by strikeout.

He should have made it 14 in a row, but third baseman Brandon Larson fielded a routine groundball off the bat of Feliz and then threw the ball past first baseman Sean Casey. Feliz ended up at second on Larson's fifth error in 11 games.

It nearly cost the Reds a run. A.J. Pierzynski followed and blooped a single into center, but center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. threw Feliz out at the plate.

The Reds didn't have a hit until Larson's two-out double in the fifth. Ryan Freel followed with a solid single to left, and thirdbase coach Mark Berry waved Larson around. Bad decision.

Bonds fielded the ball cleanly, and his throw beat Larson by five feet.

That played into Miley's call in the seventh.

"If we had gotten Larson across the plate, it would have been different," Miley said. "But with an 0-0 game, we're not going to let him beat us."

Lidle had retired six in a row when Bonds came up in the seventh inning.

The argument for walking Bonds: The fifth hitter in the San Francisco order was hitting .195 with one home run coming into Friday.

"We were well aware of that stat," Miley said.

The argument against walking Bonds: Feliz came into Friday hitting .293 with three home runs and 15 RBI. Bonds was 1-for-9 vs. Lidle.

Lidle hung a ball on a 1-2 count. Feliz's homer just got out - it landed in the second or third row of the seats in left-center, just to the right of the 379 mark.

The Giants added three runs in the eighth. All three were charged to Lidle, who pitched much better than his line. He went 7 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on six hits. His only walk was the intentional one to Bonds, and he struck out seven.

"Cory pitched a hell of a game," Miley said.

The Reds scored a run in the ninth and had the bases loaded and no outs. But the rally fizzled there.

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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

San Francisco	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Dallimore 2b	5	0	0	0	0	2	.267
Alfonzo 3b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.234
Grissom cf	4	1	1	2	0	1	.339
Mohr rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.103
Bonds lf	2	1	0	0	2	0	.424
Feliz 1b	4	1	2	3	0	1	.302
Pierzynski c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.263
Tucker rf-cf	3	1	1	0	1	1	.265
NPerez ss	3	0	1	0	0	1	.226
Rueter p	3	1	1	1	0	0	.154
Hammonds ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.190
TyWalker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Christiansen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Herges p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	34	6	8	6	3	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	0	1	1	0	0	.218
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	0	0	.298
Casey 1b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.376
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.291
Griffey Jr. cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.235
Larson 3b	2	0	1	0	0	0	.278
JCastro 3b	2	0	0	0	0	0	.234
Freel rf	3	0	2	0	0	0	.253
Valentin c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.158
Lidle p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.111
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz ph	1	1	1	0	0	0	.333
Totals	33	1	6	1	0	5

San Francisco	000	000	240	-6	8	1
Cincinnati	000	000	001	-1	6	1

E-Christiansen (2), Larson (5). LOB-San Francisco 5, Cincinnati 5. 2B-Grissom (7), Tucker (6), NPerez (5), Rueter (2), Larson (3), JaCruz (2). HR-Feliz (4), off Lidle. RBIs-Grissom 2 (18), Feliz 3 (18), Rueter (1), DJimenez (13). S-NPerez.

San Francisco	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Rueter W, 1-3	8	3	0	0	0	4	118	5.54
TyWalker	0	3	1	1	0	0	9	1.29
Christiansen	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	7	2.16
Herges S, 10	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	5.94

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle L, 2-2	7 2/3	6	6	6	1	7	89	5.15
PNorton	1/3	2	0	0	2	0	17	6.10
Reith	1	0	0	0	0	1	16	7.50

TyWalker pitched to 3 batters in the 9th, PNorton pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Christiansen 2-0, Herges 3-0, PNorton 1-1, Reith 2-0.

IBB-off Lidle (Bonds) 1.

Umpires-Home, Darren Spagnardi; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, James Hoye; Third, Jerry Crawford.

T-2:35. A-34,448 (42,271).