By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photo gallery from game.

In the confines of the Reds' payroll, Cory Lidle is a big-money pitcher.

Wednesday night - with the Reds desperately needing a win - he pitched like it.

Lidle threw seven shutout innings as the Reds beat the New York Mets 2-0 before a sellout crowd of 42,076 at Great American Ball Park.

Lidle, who signed for $2.75 million as a free agent, beat Tom Glavine, the pitcher with baseball's best ERA, for the second time in a week.

"You know it's going to be a low-scoring game," Lidle said. "I look at it as a challenge. It's something I look forward to. To face (Glavine) - I think he's a Hall of Famer - twice in a week and come out on top is something I'll never forget."

The Reds started a lineup that didn't include Ken Griffey Jr., Sean Casey or Austin Kearns.

"It all starts with the guy who takes the ball," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "You can't ask for much more than what Cory did."

An RBI single from Ryan Freel and Adam Dunn's 23rd home run proved to be enough offense for Lidle, Todd Jones and Danny Graves.

Lidle (6-5) allowed only three hits. He is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA over his last three starts.

"Everything was working," he said. "I watched tape on them. I saw some weaknesses. I was able to exploit them."

The Reds picked up a game in the National League Central on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Reds are 31/2 games back in a second place tie with the Chicago Cubs.

The Reds broke through off Glavine in the second.

D'Angelo Jimenez led off with a single to right. Lidle singled, sending Jimenez to third.

Ryan Freel got the run home with a single to left.

"You can't try to do too much with Glavine," Freel said. "He throws that changeup away. You're not going to take him out of the ballpark."

Unless you're Dunn. He made it 2-0 with a tracer to right-center. The ball probably never got more than 15 feet off the ground but it was hit so far it cleared the wall, just left of the 370 mark.

It was only the second home run Glavine has allowed to a left-handed hitter all year.

"Dunn is a phenom," Freel said.

Two runs is about nine innings' worth against Glavine. Glavine came into Wednesday with a 2.11 ERA.

Lidle outdueled Glavine when the two met a week ago in New York. The Reds won 6-2. Lidle limited the Mets to two runs on nine hits in eight innings.

He was a lot better Wednesday.

Through six innings, Lidle had limited the Mets to a pair of infield hits and a walk.

Lidle's first real jam came in the seventh. He allowed a leadoff single to Cliff Floyd. He got Richard Hidalgo to ground out with Floyd going to second. Lidle then walked former Reds Mike Cameron and pinch-hitter Eric Valent to load the bases.

Lidle escaped by getting pinch-hitter Shane Spencer to fly out to center on a 3-1 pitch.

"I started pitching scared that inning," Lidle said. "Nitpicking, avoiding contact. I was relieved to get out of it."

The Reds lifted Lidle after the seventh. It was his third consecutive quality start.

"He was spent," Miley said.

Jones pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. Graves pitched the ninth for his 30th save. He becomes the fastest to 30 saves in history. Graves did it in the Reds' 77th game. Eric Gagne and John Smoltz reached 30 in their club's 82nd game.

Graves knows it might come to him.

"When you're playing without three big hitters," Graves said, "you've got to have pitching and defense. We had both tonight."

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

New York	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Reyes 2b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.119
Matsui ss	4	0	0	0	0	1	.251
Piazza 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.311
Floyd lf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.283
Hidalgo rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.259
Wigginton 3b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.261
Cameron cf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.216
JPhillips c	1	0	0	0	1	0	.211
Valent ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.264
TWilson c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
TGlavine p	1	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Spencer ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.299
Stanton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Totals	29	0	4	0	3	5

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	0	2	1	0	1	.257
JCastro 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.316
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	0	0	.302
Dunn lf	2	1	2	1	2	0	.266
WPena rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.266
DJimenez 2b	4	1	2	0	0	0	.258
Larson 3b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.221
Valentin c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.165
Lidle p	2	0	1	0	0	1	.143
Hummel ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.288
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	32	2	9	2	2	3

New York	000	000	000	-0	4	0
Cincinnati	011	000	00x	-2	9	0

LOB-New York 7, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Larkin (11). HR-Dunn (23), off TGlavine. RBIs-Freel (13), Dunn (49). SB-Freel (14). S-Reyes, TGlavine. GIDP-DJimenez.

DP-New York 1 (Wigginton, Reyes and Piazza).

New York	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
TGlavine L, 7-5	6	7	2	2	1	3	89	2.16
Stanton	2	2	0	0	1	0	37	3.40

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle W, 6-5	7	3	0	0	3	4	100	4.73
TJones H, 19	1	0	0	0	0	1	13	3.45
Graves S, 30	1	1	0	0	0	0	14	3.09

T-2:37. A-42,076 (42,271).