By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photo gallery from game.

There was a time, not too long ago, when opposing managers walked Ken Griffey Jr. and took their chances with somebody else.

Astros manager Jimy Williams did the opposite Friday.

With a runner on second base and first base open, the Astros intentionally walked Reds first baseman Sean Casey as Griffey waited on deck.

Hitless in his previous 13 at-bats, but healthy again, the Reds center fielder lined a two-run double to right field that gave the Reds a one-run lead in a decisive sixth inning.

The Reds scored five runs in the inning and beat the Astros 7-4 before 31,832 fans on a hot, humid night at Great American Ball Park.

The win was the third consecutive and sixth in the past seven games for Cincinnati.

It also pulled the Reds, who are five games over .500 for the first time since April 26, into a second-place tie with the Cubs in the National League Central. Both teams are one game behind the Astros.

That means the Reds could move into a first-place tie with a win today.

Cincinnati trailed 4-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

The first three batters reached base - D'Angelo Jimenez on a single, catcher Jason LaRue on a fielder's choice and pinch-hitter Jacob Cruz with a double - when third baseman Ryan Freel came to bat with runners on second and third.

Facing Astros relief pitcher Dan Miceli, Freel hit an infield single that allowed LaRue to score. Cruz tied the game when he scored on a groundball to second by shortstop Barry Larkin.

With Freel on second base, the Astros intentionally walked Casey to get to Griffey.

Casey was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles at the time.

Hitless in his first three at-bats, Griffey turned on Miceli's pitch and hit a run-scoring double that hugged the first-base line and skipped over the first-base bag into the right-field corner.

Right fielder Austin Kearns followed Griffey's at-bat with a single that drove in Casey and Griffey for a 6-4 lead.

Newly designated set-up man John Riedling pitched a perfect seventh and eighth for the Reds.

Closer Danny Graves pitched the ninth and picked up his 19th save of the season.

Take away the first and sixth innings Friday and Reds starter Todd Van Poppel was as effective as any Reds pitcher this season.

The right-hander, making his third consecutive start since being plucked from the bullpen, allowed two runs in his first and final innings.

In between, he retired 11 of 13 batters.

But when Van Poppel's pitch count eased over 100 in the sixth inning, the Astros took a 4-2 lead.

Van Poppel retired the first two batters he faced in the inning before Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell homered to left on a 3-0 pitch and second baseman Jeff Kent followed with a double off the wall in left-center field.

Kent scored on a single by pinch-hitter Morgan Ensberg off Reds relief pitcher Ryan Wagner to extend Houston's lead to 4-2.

All four runs charged to Van Poppel in his 5 2/3 innings were earned. He struck out five and walked nobody.

Andy Pettitte started for the Astros and allowed one earned run on four hits over five innings. The left-hander threw 103 pitches and struck out nine while walking four.

The Reds tied the game at two in the first inning when Pettitte walked in Larkin from third.

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
OPalmeiro cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.176
AEverett ss	4	1	1	0	0	1	.272
Bagwell 1b	3	1	1	2	0	1	.305
JKent 2b	4	1	1	1	0	1	.291
Berkman lf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.336
Lamb 3b	2	0	0	0	0	0	.309
Ensberg ph-3b	2	0	2	1	0	0	.287
Hidalgo rf	3	0	0	0	0	0	.275
DMiceli p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Stone p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Biggio ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.307
Ausmus c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.276
Pettitte p	2	0	1	0	0	1	.182
Backe p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lane rf	1	0	0	0	0	1	.231
Totals	33	4	8	4	0	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b	4	2	1	1	1	0	.263
JCastro 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.254
Larkin ss	4	1	1	1	1	0	.276
Casey 1b	4	1	2	0	1	0	.368
Griffey Jr. cf	5	1	2	2	0	1	.236
Kearns rf	4	0	2	2	1	2	.164
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	3	.283
DJimenez 2b	3	0	1	1	1	0	.227
LaRue c	3	1	0	0	0	2	.203
Van Poppel p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.143
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz ph	1	1	1	0	0	0	.258
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	34	7	10	7	6	10

Houston	200	002	000	-4	8	1
Cincinnati	200	005	00x	-7	10	0

E-Lamb (5). LOB-Houston 4, Cincinnati 10. 2B-AEverett (7), JKent (12), Griffey Jr. 2 (10), JaCruz (3). HR-Bagwell (6), off Van Poppel. RBIs-Bagwell 2 (25), JKent (33), Ensberg (16), Freel (8), Larkin (14), Griffey Jr. 2 (28), Kearns 2 (7), DJimenez (17). SF-Bagwell. GIDP-OPalmeiro, Freel.

DP-Houston 1 (AEverett, JKent and Bagwell); Cincinnati 1 (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey).

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Pettitte	5	4	2	1	4	9	103	3.51
Backe H, 3	1/3	2	2	2	0	0	13	4.95
DMiceli L, 1-2, BS 1	2/3	3	3	3	2	0	24	3.00
Stone	2	1	0	0	0	1	22	7.30

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Van Poppel	5 2/3	6	4	4	0	5	111	3.90
MMatthews	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0.00
RWagner W, 2-1	1/3	1	0	0	0	0	7	7.11
Riedling H, 9	2	0	0	0	0	2	24	0.41
Graves S, 19	1	1	0	0	0	1	13	2.88

MMatthews pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored-DMiceli 2-2, MMatthews 1-0, RWagner 2-1.

IBB-off DMiceli (Dunn) 1, off DMiceli (Casey) 1. HBP-by Stone (LaRue), by MMatthews (Berkman). WP-DMiceli.

T-2:59. A-31,832 (42,271).