By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLEVELAND - As if the Reds didn't have enough pitching troubles, home plate umpire Matt Hollowell's strike zone Sunday was tiny. "Real small," Reds starter Cory Lidle said. "I'd say about the size of a dinner plate."

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Reds manager Dave Miley got ejected for pointing out to Hollowell how tiny the zone was. "I thought there were a lot of pitches that should have been called strikes," Miley said. "Not only for us, but for them, too."

There were 18 walks in the game - 10 by Reds pitchers.

Hollowell's stinginess with strikes played a major role in the Reds' 10-8 loss to the Cleveland Indians before a crowd of 31,235 at Jacobs Field on Sunday.

Because Lidle wasn't getting calls, his pitch count rose quickly. He was at 108 when he left in the sixth.

His early departure meant the Reds had to go to the bullpen early - the tired and ineffective bullpen.

This all resulted in a 7-1 lead evaporating faster than you can say blown save.

The Reds have lost six straight. They've fallen 11/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. They haven't been that far back since May 20.

Miley called a team meeting Sunday morning to address some of the transgressions he saw in the first two losses here.

"I did all the talking," he said. "It was time to have a get-together."

He thought the Reds got the message.

"I'm not going to have a meeting tomorrow," Miley said.

Wily Mo Pena's first career grand slam gave the Reds a 4-0 lead before the Indians came to bat.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s 18th of the year, and 499th of his career, made it 5-1.

The Reds added two runs in the fourth to make it 7-1. The seven runs were the most Cleveland starter Cliff Lee has allowed as a major leaguer. Lee, by the way, was ejected for throwing behind Griffey in the fourth.

Lidle yielded a run in the bottom of the fourth, but appeared to find himself after the disastrous start in Oakland. After he worked a 1-2-3 fifth - his first clean inning of the game - the 7-2 lead looked safe.

But Ronnie Belliard led off the sixth was a single. Lidle then walked Ben Broussard. Reds killer Coco Crisp followed with his second home run of the season. Crisp came into the series with seven RBI. He now has 15.

After Lidle gave up a hit to Matt Lawton, the Reds brought in Brian Reith to face Omar Vizquel.

"I was gassed," Lidle said.

That can be said for the Reds' bullpen, too.

It's been eight games since a starter has gone seven innings. The relievers have pitched an average of just over four innings a game on the six-game road trip.

Reith is one of the fresher arms. But Vizquel greeted him by hitting one out to right.

Just like that, the five-run lead was gone. It was tied at 7-7.

The Reds got the lead back in the seventh on Brandon Larson's RBI double.

But the bullpen could not hold it.

Reith walked Ben Broussard to start the seventh. An out later, .149 hitter Tim Laker doubled in the tying run. That was all for Reith.

The Reds brought in left-hander Mike Matthews. He got ahead of Lawton 0-2. Lawton worked the count full, then hit one out to right-center. Indians 10, Reds shell-shocked.

The bullpen's ERA in the losing streak is 8.75.

"It gets to you when you pitch day after day," Reith said. "That wears you down."

There's no break. The Reds were supposed to be off today. But they have a makeup game in the Philadelphia. They open a three-game series at home against Texas on Tuesday. Then it's back on the road to St. Louis and New York.

"We're going through a rough stretch," Larson said. "We've got to pick it up. As bad as we've played, we're only 11/2 games out of first."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	3	2	2	0	2	0	.243
DJimenez ss	1	0	0	0	1	1	.257
FLopez pr-ss	2	0	0	0	1	2	.139
Casey 1b	3	2	1	1	2	0	.368
Griffey Jr. cf	3	2	1	1	2	0	.258
WPena rf	3	1	1	4	0	0	.259
JaCruz ph-rf	2	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.255
Larson 3b	4	0	1	1	0	1	.227
LaRue dh	4	0	1	0	0	1	.214
Valentin c	4	1	1	0	0	0	.151
Totals	33	8	8	7	8	6

Cleveland	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Lawton lf	3	2	2	2	2	0	.323
Vizquel ss	4	2	1	2	1	0	.289
Gerut rf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.267
Blake 3b	4	0	0	1	1	0	.261
THafner dh	3	1	1	0	2	0	.313
JMcDonald pr-dh	0	0	0	0	0	0	.107
Belliard 2b	4	1	2	0	1	1	.326
Broussard 1b	3	1	0	1	2	0	.237
Crisp cf	4	2	2	3	1	0	.261
Laker c	5	1	1	1	0	2	.154
Totals	35	10	10	10	10	4

Cincinnati	401	200	100	-8	8	2
Cleveland	100	105	30x	-10	10	0

E-Casey 2 (4). LOB-Cincinnati 6, Cleveland 11. 2B-Casey (23), Larson (5), LaRue (8), Gerut (14), THafner (21), Laker (1). HR-Lawton (10), off MMatthews; Vizquel (4), off Reith; Crisp (2), off Lidle; Griffey Jr. (18), off ClLee; WPena (5), off ClLee. RBIs-Casey (44), Griffey Jr. (49), WPena 4 (14), Larson (8), Lawton 2 (33), Vizquel 2 (28), Blake (28), Broussard (24), Crisp 3 (15), Laker (9). SB-Freel (10), Gerut (8). CS-Lawton (5).

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 2 (Griffey Jr., JaCruz); Cleveland 7 (Vizquel 2, Blake, THafner, Belliard, Laker 2).

Runners moved up-Casey, Griffey Jr., Valentin, Blake, Belliard, Broussard.

DP-Cleveland 1 (Belliard and Vizquel).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle	5 1/3	7	6	6	4	2	108	5.50
Reith L, 2-2	BS, 1	1	2	3	3	3	1	40	6.48
MMatthews	2/3	1	1	1	0	1	18	3.86
Riedling	1	0	0	0	3	0	23	2.94

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
ClLee	3 2/3	6	7	7	5	4	83	3.93
Tadano	2 1/3	1	0	0	0	2	31	6.43
Bartosh	0	0	1	1	2	0	12	7.04
Miller W, 1-0	1	1	0	0	0	0	5	1.42
Riske H, 3	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	5.79
JJimenez S, 5	1	0	0	0	1	0	12	7.42

Bartosh pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Reith 1-1, MMatthews 1-1, Tadano 1-0, Miller 2-1.

IBB-off Riedling (Crisp) 1. WP-Lidle, ClLee.

Umpires-Home, Matt Hollowell; First, Lance Barksdale; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Paul Schrieber.

T-3:31. A-31,235 (43,389).