By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

Situations that beg for perfection, like the one Danny Graves faced Friday evening, are a closer's dream. The stickier, the better.

"You can't make any mistakes as opposed to coming in with nobody on and nobody out, with more than a one run lead," Graves said.

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When the Reds needed their closer to be flawless and efficient - with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning Friday - Graves instead gave up two key hits that led to a 7-5 loss at Great American Ball Park.

St. Louis right fielder Reggie Sanders, the first batter Graves faced in relief of Todd Jones, hit a two-run single that threaded the hole between third base and shortstop. Pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson followed with a deflating three-run home run to right field that gave the Cardinals the lead before 39,140 fans.

"We just couldn't get that last out," Reds manager Dave Miley said, "until the damage was done."

The blown save was Graves' major league-leading eighth this season and means the bullpen has blown 10 of its past 17 save opportunities.

"I threw what I wanted, where I wanted," said Graves, who was booed after the eighth-inning homer. "(Anderson) just did what he had to do with it."

The division-leading Cardinals have won five consecutive games against the Reds this season and seven of eight overall.

Cincinnati trails St. Louis by a season-worst 9 1/2 games.

"It's a big difference between 7 1/2 games and 9 1/2 games out," said Jones, who got two outs but allowed a single and two walks before Graves relieved him in the eighth.

"Instead of taking care of our business, we've got to take care of our business and hope they start to lose."

Would that mean refocusing postseason aspirations on the wild-card standings? The Reds were 2 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants through Thursday.

"I don't think it's time for that," Jones said.

"But if we don't nail down games like this, it's not going to matter anyway. This was a perfect opportunity for us to get a big win."

The eighth-inning letdown erased another quality start by Paul Wilson. More often than not this season, when his team needed a win, the 31-year-old pitcher has done his job.

Friday was no exception.

Presented a four-run lead going into the second inning, Wilson held the Cardinals to two runs over seven innings. He did not allow a walk and struck out three.

"I think offensively and defensively we did everything we were supposed to do," Wilson said. "We just made a few bad pitches late in the game."

Cincinnati scored four times as Cardinals starter Woody Williams needed 31 pitches to complete the first inning.

Reds second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez scored Barry Larkin from third on a fielder's choice groundball to the right side of the infield, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead.

That brought up Wily Mo Pena.

The Reds right fielder laced a 1-and-1 pitch from Williams into the left field seats for a three-run home run. It was Pena's eighth hit and third homer in his last 10 at-bats.

St. Louis scored in the fourth and fifth innings to make it 4-2.

The Reds scored their fifth run of the game with a solo home run by catcher Jason LaRue in the sixth.

LaRue was robbed of another home run when he led off the ninth inning with a blast to center field. Edmonds reached over the wall and snagged the ball.

"You're thinking it's going to be a one-run game with three outs left," Reds center fielder Ryan Freel said. "That was a big play, probably one of the biggest in the game."

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Womack 2b	5	1	0	0	0	0	.312
Renteria ss	5	0	2	0	0	2	.292
Pujols 1b	5	2	4	1	0	0	.311
Rolen 3b	4	1	0	0	1	2	.332
Edmonds cf	4	0	1	1	0	1	.281
Mabry lf	3	1	0	0	1	0	.272
RSanders rf	4	1	1	2	0	0	.255
YMolina c	3	0	2	0	0	0	.274
MAnderson ph	1	1	1	3	0	0	.263
Matheny c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.255
WWilliams p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.182
Lankford ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Calero p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Luna ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Kline p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Tavarez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Isringhausen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Totals	38	7	12	7	2	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.279
Larkin ss	4	1	2	0	0	0	.296
Casey 1b	4	1	1	0	0	0	.345
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.263
DJimenez 2b	4	1	1	1	0	1	.263
WPena rf	4	1	1	3	0	3	.281
LaRue c	4	1	1	1	0	0	.229
JCastro 3b	3	0	1	0	0	1	.269
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
PWilson p	3	0	1	0	0	2	.171
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Vander Wal ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Totals	35	5	8	5	1	8

St. Louis	000	110	050	-7	12	0
Cincinnati	400	001	000	-5	8	0

LOB-St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 4. 2B-Edmonds (24), JCastro (14), PWilson (2). HR-MAnderson (6), off Graves; LaRue (9), off WWilliams; WPena (11), off WWilliams. RBIs-Pujols (63), Edmonds (57), RSanders 2 (45), MAnderson 3 (20), DJimenez (28), WPena 3 (31), LaRue (30).

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WWilliams	6	8	5	5	1	5	108	4.28
Calero W, 1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	3.16
Kline H, 10	2/3	0	0	0	0	2	9	1.87
Tavarez H, 10	1/3	0	0	0	0	1	4	2.97
Isringhausen S, 22	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	2.70

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson	7	8	2	2	0	3	99	3.59
TJones H, 21	2/3	1	3	3	2	2	23	3.81
Graves L, 1-4; BS,8	1 1/3	3	2	2	0	1	24	3.00

Inherited runners-scored-Graves 3-3.

PB-LaRue. T-2:43. A-39,140 (42,271).

Umpires-Home, Bruce Dreckman; First, Larry Poncino; Second, Greg Gibson; Third, Gerry Davis.

T-2:43. A-39,140 (42,271).