By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MONTREAL - The Reds' 6-2 loss to the Montreal Expos could be blamed on a pitching failure.

The Reds walked a season-high 10 in the game.

Expos relief pitcher Chad Cordero, left, is congratulated by catcher Brian Schneider after Cordero got his first save of the season. (AP photo)

But the offense shares a bit of the blame for this one - specifically the bottom of the order.

D'Angelo Jimenez, who was batting sixth, tied a career-high with four hits. All four were singles but the Reds did not advance him beyond first on any of them.

Jacob Cruz followed Jimenez in the batting order. Cruz was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He hit into a double play in his other at-bat.

Jason LaRue, batting eighth, went 0-3 with a walk.

Cruz has started the last two games in place of Austin Kearns, who is out with an open sore on his right thumb.

Cruz has two hits in his last 19 at-bats and is hitting .225.

With left-hander Tommy Phelps starting today for Florida in the series opener in Miami, look for Wily Mo Pena to start if Kearns doesn't.

Pena hit a pinch-hit home run Sunday. He leads the Reds with a .444 average against lefties.

CONFIDENCE BUILDER: Manage Dave Miley's decision to let pitcher Jose Acevedo hit in the seventh inning with one out and runners on second and third in Saturday's 4-1 victory was a risky one. A hit there breaks open the game, and Acevedo struck out.

But Miley was trying to instill confidence in the starter.

"Miley trusts his starting pitchers. That means a lot," said Acevedo.

WILSON UPDATE: Right-hander Paul Wilson, who missed Sunday's start with a tight right groin, continues to progress.

"It's a better," Wilson said. "I'll do some agility work (today) and go from there."

The Reds are hoping Wilson misses only the one start.

If he's out longer, the Reds probably will have to make a roster move. It's doubtful that Joe Valentine, who walked five and gave up three runs in one inning Sunday, will be given another start.

FAN INTERACTION: The Reds had some fun with a particularly vocal Expos fan during stretching.

The fan's contention was since his friend had been waiting an hour, the Reds should sign autographs for him. He got fairly nasty with his argument.

"Why the animosity?" Jason LaRue said.

The guy was rather large, which prompted Adam Dunn to say: "Don't be afraid to mix in a salad."

FARM REPORT: The Reds got well-pitched games on every level Saturday:

• Bubba Nelson went seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits, in Louisville's 4-1 loss to Pawtucket. Nelson, the right-hander obtained in the Chris Reitsma trade, struck out nine and walked two.

• Four pitchers combined to limit Tennessee to one run in Double-A Chattanooga's 5-1 win. A name to watch for is Chris Booker: the oft-injured right-hander has a 1.29 ERA for the Lookouts. He has struck out 12 in seven innings and is one of the hardest throwers in the organization.

• Ricardo Aramboles, another right-hander coming off surgery, pitched six shutout innings for Single-A Potomac. He allowed only three hits in an 11-3 win over Salem.

REDS FACT: Ryan Freel's error Sunday was only the Reds' fourth in their past 12 games. They had gone errorless in five straight and nine of their past 11.

Reds statistics

(Through Sunday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.392	.435	189	37	74	19	1	7	36	14	17	1	0	1
Castro	.301	.341	83	11	25	6	1	1	9	6	16	0	0	4
Larkin	.284	.330	176	30	50	8	2	2	18	13	23	2	0	1
Larson	.278	.350	36	4	10	3	0	1	5	4	6	0	0	5
Freel	.255	.351	149	20	38	4	5	1	8	15	27	8	3	6
Dunn	.248	.433	157	32	39	8	0	12	28	48	64	2	0	2
Pena	.245	.315	49	6	12	1	1	3	7	4	23	0	0	0
Jimenez	.240	.352	183	24	44	9	1	3	19	31	30	2	3	4
Griffey	.239	.343	176	26	42	12	0	12	39	26	40	1	0	0
Cruz	.225	.354	40	7	9	3	0	0	6	8	16	0	0	0
Hummel	.207	.258	28	1	6	1	0	0	4	2	5	0	0	0
Kearns	.198	.330	86	10	17	2	1	3	13	16	29	1	1	1
LaRue	.194	.321	93	11	18	6	0	1	11	10	26	0	1	3
Valentin	.162	.210	74	7	12	3	0	3	8	5	9	0	0	3
Team Totals	.247	.343	1646	231	407	88	12	49	216	218	399	17	8	31

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Riedling	3	0	1.38	23	0	0	26.0	14	6	4	1	6	18
Graves	1	3	2.79	29	0	23	29.0	28	14	9	7	4	19
Wilson	7	0	3.34	10	10	0	64.2	68	26	24	8	15	35
Van Poppel	2	2	3.63	10	4	0	34.2	33	14	14	3	7	23
Matthews	0	0	4.15	7	0	0	4.1	4	3	2	2	3	2
Acevedo	3	3	4.15	10	10	0	60.2	58	29	28	10	12	51
Jones	3	1	4.61	25	0	1	27.1	22	14	14	2	14	21
Lidle	4	4	4.73	11	11	0	72.1	71	39	38	10	14	37
Norton	0	0	4.58	21	0	0	17.2	19	10	9	3	9	8
Harang	4	2	5.27	10	10	0	54.2	69	32	32	7	22	41
Wagner	2	1	6.75	18	0	0	14.2	26	13	11	3	11	9
Reith	0	1	6.63	16	0	0	19.0	22	14	14	4	13	19
Valentine	0	1	27.00	1	1	0	1	2	3	3	0	5	0
Team Totals	29	21	4.45	50	50	24	442	462	234	218	62	142	291