By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Ryan Freel, center, is escorted off the field by manager Dave Miley, left, and trainer Mark Mann after he injured his left leg slamming into an unpadded section of the wall chasing a foul ball in the sixth inning. The Associated Press/TOM GANNAM

ST. LOUIS - The Reds are a team with no margin for error these days. Wednesday night, shortstop Barry Larkin made a big one.

Larkin's throwing error in the seventh gave the St. Louis Cardinals the lead for good in their 4-2 victory over the Reds at Busch Stadium.

Larkin's error - only his second error of the year - put Edgar Renteria at second base. The Cardinals shortstop eventually scored the go-ahead run.

"When I saw him on second, I thought, 'Oh Lord, here we go,' " Larkin said. "You hate to think you can't make errors. But it ended up costing us the game."

With the way the Reds' offense is going, one unearned run is too many. They scored only six runs in the three-game series. Wednesday, they managed only four hits - none after the fifth inning.

"Over the last X amount of games, we haven't been able to push runs across," Reds manager Dave Miley said.

The Reds got more bad news: Ryan Freel, whose versatility has been invaluable to the Reds, left the game in the sixth inning after sliding hard into the wall along the foul line while trying to catch a ball. X-rays were negative, but Freel will return to Cincinnati to get an MRI, and it's doubtful he'll play before the All-Star break.

"It's sore," he said. "My knee hit the concrete."

With the win, the Cardinals completed the first three-game sweep of the Reds at Busch since May 15-17, 1987. St. Louis is 5-1 against the Reds this year.

The Cardinals lead the Reds by eight games in the National League Central. The Reds (44-40) are four games from .500 for the first time since May 20.

The Reds go to Milwaukee for four games leading into the All-Star break. The players know the series is key.

"It's been talked about," Miley said. "We have to find a way to score."

Jesus Sanchez, the left-hander the Reds brought up to make two starts before the All-Star break, was much better in his second one. Sanchez went six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked four and struck out four.

Given Sanchez's performance against Cleveland in his previous start - 4 1/3 innings, six runs - and St. Louis' offensive prowess, an early knockout seemed like a possibility.

It looked like a foregone conclusion the way Sanchez started. Tony Womack led off the game for the Cardinals with an infield single, and Renteria drove an RBI double into the left-center gap.

Renteria was thrown out trying to steal third. Why he was running with no outs and Albert Pujols at the plate is hard to explain, but the Reds had a gift out.

Sanchez walked Pujols and Scott Rolen, but he struck out Reggie Sanders and Jim Edmonds to strand them.

Getting out of the inning down only 1-0 after the first four hitters reached was a minor victory.

"(Sanchez) pitched out of jams," Miley said. "He kept us in the game overall."

The Reds tied it in the fourth. Brandon Larson ended an 0-for-11 skid with a home run that landed in the seats above left field, just to the right of the foul pole. It was Larson's third homer of the year.

Edmonds broke the tie by leading off the Cardinals fourth with his 18th home run of the season - an opposite-field shot to left.

The Reds tied it again in the fifth on Adam Dunn's two-out RBI single.

John Riedling took over for Sanchez and immediately was put in a tough spot. Renteria grounded to Larkin to lead off the seventh.

"It just tailed on me," Larkin said of the errant throw. "I threw it like I normally do."

The beat-up Reds had Juan Castro playing first base, and the throw got by him. Renteria ended up at second with the big boys coming up. Riedling got Pujols on a groundout, with Renteria holding, and the Reds walked Rolen.

Sanders then grounded one up the middle that was just out of the reach of second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez and Larkin. Renteria scored to make it 3-2.

Riedling got Edmonds to line into a double play to escape further damage.

Todd Jones gave up the Cardinals' fourth run in the eighth.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel rf	3	0	2	0	0	0	.281
WPena rf	1	0	0	0	1	0	.270
Larkin ss	4	1	0	0	0	0	.286
DJimenez 2b	1	0	0	0	3	0	.255
Griffey Jr. cf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.248
Dunn lf	4	0	1	1	0	1	.262
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	0	.227
JCastro 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.279
Larson 3b	3	1	1	1	1	1	.206
JSanchez p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.266
Totals	31	2	4	2	6	4

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Womack 2b	5	1	3	1	0	0	.312
Renteria ss	5	1	1	1	0	0	.281
Pujols 1b	2	0	0	0	2	0	.307
Rolen 3b	2	0	1	0	2	0	.347
RSanders rf	3	0	1	1	1	2	.257
Isringhausen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Edmonds cf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.275
Matheny c	4	1	1	0	0	1	.253
Taguchi lf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.256
WWilliams p	3	0	1	0	0	0	.194
King p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Tavarez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mabry ph-rf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.281
Totals	32	4	10	4	5	4

Cincinnati	000	110	000	-2	4	1
St. Louis	100	100	11x	-4	10	0

E-Larkin (2). LOB-Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 10. 2B-Freel (10), Womack (17), Renteria (21), WWilliams (3). HR-Edmonds (18), off JSanchez; Larson (3), off WWilliams. RBIs-Dunn (52), Larson (12), Womack (23), Renteria (39), RSanders (43), Edmonds (52). SB-Taguchi (4). CS-Renteria (4). S-Taguchi. DP-Cincinnati 1 (Jimenez and Castro).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JSanchez	6	7	2	2	4	4	100	6.97
Riedling L, 4-2	1	1	1	0	1	0	18	3.91
TJones	1	2	1	1	0	0	16	3.42

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WWilliams	6 1/3	4	2	2	6	3	124	4.09
King W, 2-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	1.16
Tavarez H, 8	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	2	3.21
Isringhausen S, 20	1	0	0	0	0	1	9	2.95

Inherited runners-scored-King 1-0.

IBB-off Riedling (Rolen) 1. PB-LaRue.

T-2:58. A-34,999 (50,345).