By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MONTREAL - Just when you think Sean Casey is going to cool off, he gets a little hotter.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

Casey went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run and three RBI to lead the Reds past the Montreal Expos 7-6 before a crowd of 7,058 at Olympic Stadium Friday night.

"What a night," said starting pitcher Cory Lidle. "He's been unbelievable."

Casey's big night pushed his league-leading average to .390. Over his last 16 games, he's hitting .415 with four homers and 13 RBI.

"For me, it's a matter of quality at-bats," Casey said. "I've swung it like this before. I just try to be locked in every at-bat."

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 12th home run - a two-run shot in the fifth.

Afterward, Griffey was trying to get Casey to promise to buy him a Rolex.

"I'm protecting him," said Griffey, who is hitting fourth behind Casey. "He's going to get a silver bat; I should get a silver Rolex."

Casey doesn't need a lot of protection the way he's swinging. He hit .444 in April when he was batting fourth or fifth.

"Everything he swings at it seems like he has a chance to get a hit," Reds manager Dave Miley said.

Casey struck out in his fifth at-bat Friday. But before the strikeout, he lined one into the right-field corner that was an inch or two foul.

"I should have been 5-for-5," Casey said.

Casey's consistency has been remarkable. Friday was his 24th multi-hit game - he leads the majors in that category. He has at least one hit in 39 of the Reds' 45 games and hasn't gone hitless in consecutive games all year.

"I try not to look at the numbers," Casey said. "I look at us winning the game tonight."

The Reds are winning a lot, thanks largely to Casey's bat. Friday's victory was the Reds' 11th in 14 game. They lead the NL Central by 1 1/2 games. They've been in first for seven days - the last five by themselves.

The Reds came back from a 2-0 deficit for their 14th come-from-behind win of the year.

Cory Lidle (4-4) went 6 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on five hits. Lidle allowed only one baserunner from the second through the fifth innings but gave up a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to make it interesting.

"I thought I threw pretty good," Lidle said. "The home runs were on lazy pitches. They're fastball hitters. They were fastballs without a lot of movement."

Lidle has been oddly inconsistent start to start. In his last eight starts, he has been good in every other one. His ERA in the good ones is 2.48. In the bad ones, it's 8.14.

Lidle gave up two runs in the first - the second on Tony Batista's fourth home run.

The Reds' offense, so quiet in the back-to-back losses to Florida, got going in the third. Ryan Freel started the inning with a single. Barry Larkin got him home with a double into the right-field corner.

Casey followed with his seventh home run of the year - a no-doubter to right field. That made it 3-2.

Casey drove in the Reds' fourth run, doubling in Larkin in the fifth.

Griffey opened up a little more breathing room with a bolt to right-center for his 12th home run. It was the 493rd of Griffey's career, tying him with Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig for 20th on the all-time list.

"Any time you're mentioned with someone like that, it's an honor," Griffey said. "My name is next to his."

The Expos cut it to 6-3 on Brad Wilkerson's homer in the sixth.

Lidle helped himself in the seventh. After the Expos intentionally walked Javier Valentin to get to him, Lidle singled to drive in a run. It turned out to be the winning run.

"My first game-winning RBI. I was just glad to make contact," said Lidle, who struck out in his first three at-bats.

The Expos closed it to one run in the seventh. Orlando Cabrera and Carl Everett started the inning with back-to-back doubles. Everett eventually came around to score on a Brian Schneider sacrifice fly.

Schneider was the last batter Lidle faced. The first batter Mike Matthews faced, pinch hitter Matt Cepicky, hit a home run to right to make it 7-6.

After Matthews walked Wilkerson, John Riedling was brought in and got the final out of the inning.

Riedling pitched a scoreless eighth and Graves worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22nd save.

"Those are games you want to be in," Riedling said. "With a two- or three-run lead, the adrenaline doesn't get going. When it's a one-run, you're focused every pitch."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b	3	1	1	0	1	1	.255
JCastro 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286
Larkin ss	5	2	2	1	0	0	.292
Casey 1b	5	2	4	3	0	1	.390
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	2	2	0	1	.247
Kearns rf	5	1	2	0	0	3	.198
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	2	3	.253
DJimenez 2b	5	0	2	0	0	0	.222
Valentin c	3	0	0	0	2	0	.164
Lidle p	4	0	1	1	0	3	.158
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.257
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	38	7	14	7	5	12

Montreal	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Wilkerson rf-lf	4	2	2	1	1	1	.228
EnChavez cf	3	0	0	0	0	0	.278
Vidro 2b	4	0	0	1	0	0	.225
TBatista 3b	3	1	1	1	0	0	.255
OCabrera ss	4	1	1	0	0	1	.244
CEverett lf	4	1	2	1	0	0	.259
Carroll pr	0	0	0	0	0	0	.256
JRivera rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.260
NJohnson 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Schneider c	2	0	0	1	1	0	.244
Vargas p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.059
Fikac p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
AFox ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.160
Tucker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bentz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Ayala p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Cepicky ph	1	1	1	1	0	0	.224
CCordero p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Sledge ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.257
Totals	32	6	7	6	2	2

Cincinnati	003	030	100	-7	14	0
Montreal	200	001	300	-6	7	0

LOB-Cincinnati 11, Montreal 4. 2B-Larkin (8), Casey 2 (19), Wilkerson (8), OCabrera (7), CEverett (4). 3B-DJimenez (1). HR-Cepicky (1), off MMatthews; Wilkerson (5), off Lidle; Griffey Jr. (12), off Vargas; Casey (7), off Vargas; TBatista (4), off Lidle. RBIs-Larkin (18), Casey 3 (35), Griffey Jr. 2 (39), Lidle (2), Wilkerson (15), Vidro (15), TBatista (16), CEverett (3), Schneider (14), Cepicky (3). SB-Wilkerson (5). S-EnChavez. SF-Schneider. GIDP-DJimenez, Valentin.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 5 (Larkin 2, Kearns, Lidle 2); Montreal 2 (EnChavez, NJohnson).

Runners moved up-Vidro, NJohnson.

DP-Montreal 3 (TBatista, Vidro and NJohnson), (Wilkerson and NJohnson), (TBatista, Vidro and NJohnson).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle W, 4-4	6 2/3	5	5	5	1	2	94	4.73
MMatthews	0	1	1	1	1	0	8	3.86
Riedling H, 10	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	0	22	1.38
Graves S, 22	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	2.89

Montreal	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Vargas L, 3-3	4	9	6	6	1	6	101	5.16
Fikac	1	1	0	0	1	3	20	5.40
Tucker	1	1	0	0	1	0	18	3.72
Bentz	2/3	1	1	1	2	0	21	4.61
Ayala	1/3	1	0	0	0	0	7	3.96
CCordero	2	1	0	0	0	3	33	1.37

MMatthews pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Vargas pitched to 3 batters in the 5th.

Inherited runners-scored-Riedling 1-0, Ayala 2-1.

IBB-off Bentz (Valentin) 1, off Fikac (Valentin) 1. HBP-by Riedling (TBatista), by Ayala (Freel), by Vargas (Griffey Jr.).

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

T-3:00. A-7,058 (46,338).