By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer
The Reds' 7-5 loss to the New York Mets Tuesday night - the Reds' third loss in a row - would seem like the least of the club's worries right about now.
Sean Casey is out for the next few days with a calf strain.
Ken Griffey Jr. did not start Tuesday because of cramps in his calf (but he did pinch hit).
And Austin Kearns is out until probably August. He'll have surgery on his sore right thumb Friday.
"I don't count Kearnsie, because he's been out awhile," shortstop Barry Larkin said. "But anytime you lose your two big guys, it's a huge blow."
The wheels, it would appear, are coming off. The Reds are not a team with great depth.
Reds manager Dave Miley tried to keep things positive.
"Would we like to have those two guys in the lineup? No question," Miley said. "But you've got to roll with the punches."
The crowd - 27,858 - was the smallest at Great American Ball Park since May 27. The Reds did go over the one million mark for the season. They are up to 1,001,236.
The injuries meant that only four players from the Reds' projected Opening Day lineup - Larkin, Adam Dunn, Jason LaRue and D'Angelo Jimenez - started Tuesday's game. And Dunn was playing first - not his usual position, left field.
The Reds, despite the missing stars, did put on a good show. They came back from a 7-1 deficit and had the tying run at first with no outs in the ninth.
But Larkin grounded into a rally-busting double play.
"I would have liked to see what happened with Casey hitting against (Braden) Looper, instead of tonight's No. 3 hitter," said Larkin, who was, of course, the No. 3 hitter for the night.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the second. Reds starter Todd Van Poppel hit Cliff Floyd with a pitch, and former Red Mike Cameron eventually got Floyd in with a single to left.
The Reds answered in their half of the inning. Jimenez led off with a double. After LaRue walked, Wily Mo Pena singled up the middle to score Jimenez.
Floyd put the Mets back on top in the fourth with his ninth home run.
Floyd broke open the game with his next at-bat, hitting a three-run homer in the sixth, to make it 5-1.
The game got completely away from Van Poppel before the inning was over. Ty Wigginton hit his seventh home run of the year, a two-run shot, to push it to 7-1.
"It was a situation where I felt good the whole night," Van Poppel said. "But I made mistakes, and they hit them."
Van Poppel went 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five.
The seven runs were the most Van Poppel has allowed since moving into the starting rotation May 15.
Brandon Larson cut the lead to four with a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh - a high shot to left center. It was Larson's first career pinch-hit home run and his second homer of the year. The other came May 1.
Ryan Freel followed with an infield hit. That ended New York starter Jae Seo's night. Seo went 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits.
After Ricky Bottalico struck out Jermaine Clark, Larkin doubled Freel in to make it 7-4.
The Reds made things interesting in the ninth against New York closer Looper. Jacob Cruz led off with a pinch-hit single.
Freel followed with a bunt single.
The Reds sent up Griffey to pinch hit for Clark. He singled, snapping a career-high 0-for-24 skid, to load the bases.
But Larkin grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
"We did what we could," Larkin said "We fought back."
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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com
| New York | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Reyes 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .128 |
| Matsui ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .254 |
| Piazza 1b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .316 |
| Bottalico p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| JoFranco p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Parra p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Looper p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Floyd lf | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .284 |
| Hidalgo rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .259 |
| Wigginton 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .262 |
| Cameron cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .218 |
| JPhillips c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .212 |
| Seo p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
| Zeile 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .245 |
| Totals | 33 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 9 | |
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Freel cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .253 |
| JClark lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .133 |
| Griffey Jr. ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| Hummel pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .292 |
| Larkin ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .303 |
| Dunn 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .260 |
| DJimenez 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .254 |
| LaRue c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .228 |
| WPena rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .267 |
| JCastro 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .327 |
| Van Poppel p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 |
| PNorton p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Larson ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .232 |
| GWhite p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Riedling p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| JaCruz ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Totals | 35 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |
| New York | 010 | 105 | 000 | -7 | 7 | 0 |
| Cincinnati | 010 | 000 | 301 | -5 | 12 | 0 |
LOB-New York 3, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Matsui (20), Larkin (10), DJimenez (13), JCastro (11). HR-Larson (2), off Seo; Wigginton (7), off Van Poppel; Floyd 2 (10), off Van Poppel 2. RBIs-Floyd 4 (32), Wigginton 2 (29), Cameron (28), Larkin (30), WPena (22), Larson 2 (10). CS-DJimenez (6). S-Van Poppel. GIDP-JPhillips, Larkin, JCastro.
Runners left in scoring position-New York 1 (Floyd); Cincinnati 4 (Larkin, Dunn, DJimenez, Van Poppel).
Runners moved up-Wigginton.
DP-New York 2 (Seo, Matsui and Piazza), (Reyes, Matsui and Zeile); Cincinnati 1 (DJimenez, Larkin and Dunn).
| New York | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Seo W, 4-5 | 6 1/3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 100 | 4.92 |
| Bottalico | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1.73 |
| JoFranco H, 8 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4.50 |
| Parra H, 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1.59 |
| Looper S, 14 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1.87 |
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Van Poppel L, 3-3 | 5 1/3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 86 | 5.16 |
| PNorton | 1 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6.00 |
| GWhite | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0.00 |
| Riedling | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3.64 |
Inherited runners-scored-Bottalico 1-1, JoFranco 1-0, PNorton 1-0.
HBP-by Van Poppel (Floyd).
Umpires-Home, Phil Cuzzi; First, Jerry Crawford; Second, Dave Aschwege; Third, Brian O'Nora.
T-2:40. A-27,858 (42,271).
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