By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer
ST. LOUIS - Four pitches. Four runs. Forget it.
That's how the Reds' 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals went down Monday before a crowd 41,852 at Busch Stadium.
Cory Lidle took a shutout into the fifth inning, but the Cardinals produced four runs in four pitches.
The loss drops the Reds to a season-high six games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. The Cardinals have won four straight and 15 of 20.
The Reds are 0-1 on a seven-day, seven-game road trip - three here, four in Milwaukee - leading into the All-Star Break.
The Reds can't afford a disastrous trip.
"Baseball is baseball," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "But we know where St. Louis is (in the standing), and we know where we are."
Lidle, the Reds best starter over the last month on so, escaped trouble in the first, second and third. He worked a 1-2-3 fourth.
The trouble began in the fifth when he allowed a leadoff single to the eighth hitter, Mike Matheny.
Pitcher Chris Carpenter sacrificed Matheny over. Then Tony Womack singled.
That brought up Edgar Renteria with runners at first and third. Lidle got ahead of Renteria 1-2. Renteria worked the count full.
"I tried to throw a sinker in," Lidle said. "But I didn't execute my pitch. I left it over the middle of the plate."
Renteria drove it to left for a two-run double to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
Lidle didn't have a lot of time to ponder his fate. He had to face Albert Pujols next, then Scott Rolen, then Jim Edmonds.
"They're three, four, five hitters are as good as anybody's," Miley said. "It's hard to pitch around anybody."
Pujols took a strike. Lidle came back with a cutter down and away.
"A pretty good pitch," Lidle said.
Pujols muscled it into right to score Renteria. Pujols went to second on Wily Mo Pena's throw home.
Lidle decided to start Rolen with a curveball.
"They're a thinking team," Lidle said. "They try to guess right with you. He guessed right."
Rolen dropped a single into center to make it 4-0. The RBI was his 80th of the season.
Just like that, the Reds got a quick lesson in why the Cardinals offense is so good. The Cardinals are first in National League in batting average, hits and RBI.
Lidle struck out Edmonds and Roger Cedeno to get out of it from there.
"They came up with big hits when they need them," Miley said. "That was the difference in the game."
The Reds managed only five hits off Carpenter. (Ryan Freel had three of the five).
Carpenter pitched like Bob Gibson on Bob Gibson Bobblehead Day. Carpenter went 7 1/3 innings. He struck eight and walked none.
"I was only guy he was falling behind in the count," Freel said. "I was able to get 1-0, 2-0. He's got good stuff. When he's got it working, you're in for a long day."
The Reds only run came in the sixth. Freel doubled and scored on Barry Larkin's single up the middle.
Larkin moved up on a wild pitch, but D'Angelo Jimenez grounded out and Ken Griffey Jr. struck out.
Carpenter, Ray King and Jason Isringhausen retired 10 straight until the Reds made it interesting in the ninth.
Griffey just missed a home run - it was maybe two feet foul - before walking. Adam Dunn also walked.
But Isringhausen struck out Pena with three straight off-speed pitches.
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Freel lf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .277 |
| Larkin ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .295 |
| DJimenez 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .256 |
| Griffey Jr. cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .244 |
| Dunn 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .265 |
| WPena rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .271 |
| Valentin c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .170 |
| JCastro 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .290 |
| Lidle p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .138 |
| LaRue ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .226 |
| RWagner p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| JaCruz ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Riedling p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 31 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |
| St. Louis | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Womack 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| Renteria ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .283 |
| Pujols 1b | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| Rolen 3b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .346 |
| Edmonds cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .275 |
| Cedeno lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .270 |
| Taguchi lf-rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .256 |
| RSanders rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .253 |
| Isringhausen p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Matheny c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .253 |
| Carpenter p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .139 |
| King p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Lankford ph-lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .264 |
| Totals | 33 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | |
| Cincinnati | 000 | 001 | 000 | -1 | 5 | 0 |
| St. Louis | 000 | 040 | 00x | -4 | 11 | 0 |
LOB-Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 8. 2B-Freel (9), Renteria (20), Pujols (25). RBIs-Larkin (31), Renteria 2 (36), Rolen 2 (80). S-Carpenter. GIDP-Larkin, Renteria.
Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (Griffey Jr., WPena, JCastro); St. Louis 4 (Rolen, Carpenter, Lankford 2).
Runners moved up-DJimenez, Valentin, Taguchi, RSanders.
DP-Cincinnati 1 (DJimenez and Dunn); St. Louis 1 (Womack, Renteria and Pujols).
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Lidle L, 6-6 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 86 | 4.84 |
| RWagner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5.94 |
| Riedling | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 4.00 |
| St. Louis | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Carpenter W, 9-3 | 7 1/3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 100 | 3.50 |
| King H, 13 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1.20 |
| Isringhausen S, 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 3.03 |
IBB-off Riedling (RSanders) 1. WP-Carpenter.
Umpires-Home, Brian Gorman; First, Dale Scott; Second, Ron Kulpa; Third, Bill Miller.
T-2:37. A-41,852 (50,345).
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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com
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