By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

A pattern is beginning to develop with these Reds. When seemingly at their lowest - beaten and injured - they have managed to win.

It happened on May 3 in Houston, the day after the Astros won with a late-game squeeze play. It happened in the 11th inning against Texas on June 15 when the Reds ended a seven-game losing streak.

And it happened again Saturday.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

Losers of five of their previous six games, including a season worst 13-run loss the evening before, the Reds beat the Indians 4-2 on at Great American Ball Park.

"Every game right now, from here until the end of the season, is just as important as any," catcher Jason LaRue said. "It's not a deal where we need to press or say we need to get a win.

"But you try to keep the down time to a minimum."

Cincinnati scored three runs in the first inning and one in the fourth.

That's all.

But they proved enough for starter Paul Wilson and three Reds relievers.

Wilson, a right-hander, gave Cincinnati a needed quality start - two runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings - and got his first win since May 25.

"Being able to get those three runs, you figure that you're going to get a good outing from Wilson," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "He did a helluva job."

The Reds' bullpen, which had 12.12 ERA over its previous five games, provided 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Closer Danny Graves pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 31st save of the season.

Saturday's win before 38,708 fans does not salvage this nine-game homestand against the Pirates, Mets and Indians, but it helps the mindset of those inside the home clubhouse.

The Reds, whose starting lineup lacked center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. and first baseman Sean Casey for the fifth consecutive game Saturday, are 3-5 during the homestand that ends today.

At the moment Wilson threw his first pitch of the evening, Cincinnati trailed first-place St. Louis by five games and was 2 1/2 behind the Cubs in the wild-card standings.

"It's a point now in the season where it's time for us to put up or shut up," Wilson said. "This is when the division starts separating the men from the boys.

"It's not like if we lost (Saturday) we were going to be out of it. ... But we had to show we can get it done without those guys (Griffey and Casey) in the lineup."

By earning his career high-tying eighth win of the season Saturday, Wilson helped reverse a lackluster run by the Reds. Cincinnati starting pitchers were 2-4 with a 5.53 ERA and had allowed nine home runs in the previous seven games of the homestand.

With help from his defense, Wilson stranded runners during his first six innings while allowing only one run during that span.

Omar Vizquel hit a run-scoring triple, which bounced past a diving Ryan Freel in center field, to make it a 4-1 game in the fifth inning.

Catcher Victor Martinez doubled to lead off the inning before, but was thrown out trying to stretch that into a triple. A well-executed relay from right fielder Wily Mo Pena to shortstop Barry Larkin to third baseman Juan Castro beat Martinez to third base.

The Indians made it 4-2 when left fielder Matt Lawton hit a 3-and-2 pitch into the right-field moon deck in the seventh inning.

Wilson retired the next batter before left-hander Gabe White came in from the bullpen. White retired Travis Hafner to end the inning, and Todd Jones pitched a scoreless eighth.

"When we brought in Gabe to face Hafner, we decided that was probably enough for (Wilson)," Miley said. "It worked out well for him, and worked out well for us."

The Reds scored three runs off Indians starter Scott Elarton in the first inning.

Larkin reached on an error and scored when the next batter, D'Angelo Jimenez, pulled a 1-2 pitch into the Indians bullpen.

"He gives you solid at-bats," Miley said of Jimenez, who also homered Friday.

A walk and single later, LaRue's single scored Adam Dunn to make it 3-0.

The Reds scored their fourth run on a single by Freel with two outs in the fourth inning. Freel was thrown out at second base on the play.

"The guys did great offensively," Wilson said. "We scored just enough runs. I had a better fastball and was able to challenge guys."

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E-mail kkelly@enquirer.com

Cleveland	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Lawton lf	5	1	1	1	0	0	.315
Vizquel ss	4	0	2	1	0	0	.285
THafner 1b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.304
VMartinez c	4	0	1	0	0	2	.299
Gerut rf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.270
Blake 3b	3	0	1	0	1	2	.276
Crisp cf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.270
Belliard 2b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.317
Elarton p	2	1	1	0	0	0	.333
Merloni ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.286
RiWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Robertson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Miller p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Broussard ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Totals	34	2	8	2	3	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	0	2	1	0	0	.260
Larkin ss	4	1	0	0	0	0	.294
DJimenez 2b	4	1	1	2	0	0	.260
Dunn lf	3	1	0	0	1	1	.270
WPena rf	4	0	2	0	0	0	.278
LaRue c	4	0	1	1	0	1	.229
Valentin 1b	2	1	0	0	1	1	.163
JCastro 3b	3	0	1	0	0	1	.301
PWilson p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.143
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.274
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	30	4	7	4	2	5

Cleveland	000	010	100	-2	8	1
Cincinnati	300	100	00x	-4	7	0

E-Blake (11). LOB-Cleveland 8, Cincinnati 5. 2B-VMartinez (25), Gerut (21), JCastro (12). 3B-Vizquel (1). HR-Lawton (13), off PWilson; DJimenez (6), off Elarton. RBIs-Lawton (47), Vizquel (36), Freel (14), DJimenez 2 (26), LaRue (27). SB-Crisp (11), WPena (3). S-PWilson.

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Elarton L, 0-1	6	5	4	3	2	4	114	4.98
RiWhite	1	1	0	0	0	0	12	2.97
Robertson	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	10	5.00
Miller	1/3	1	0	0	0	1	7	2.18

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson W, 8-2	6 2/3	8	2	2	2	6	114	3.63
GWhite H, 2	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	1.17
TJones H, 20	1	0	0	0	1	1	22	3.38
Graves S, 31	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	3.02

IBB-off PWilson (Belliard) 1.

Umpires-Home, Ed Montague; First, Jerry Meals; Second, Derryl Cousins; Third, Paul Schrieber.

T-2:48. A-38,708 (42,271).