By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer
PITTSBURGH - The Reds have bounced back at least a half dozen times when they seemed to be on the doorstep of doom this season.
And they may get up and dust themselves off again.
But things have never looked bleaker than they do in the wake of the disaster that was the 14-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday night before a crowd of 37,752 at PNC Park.
The Reds had the obligatory team meeting after the game.
"We had a meeting," Reds manager Dave Miley said, "and it stays in-house."
"We're looking to bounce back," Sean Casey said. "We've been struggling the past few days, but nobody's panicking. We can get back right where we need to be."
The lone highlight for the Reds: Barry Larkin went 3-for-4 with a home run. The three hits gave him 2,327 for his career - moving him past Dave Concepcion and into second place on the Reds' all-time list behind Pete Rose (3,358).
Larkin strained an oblique muscle making a play in the fourth inning but played until the eighth. He is day-to-day.
The Reds led this one 3-0 and 4-1, but it all slipped away in the seven-run sixth inning.
Aaron Harang, who has excelled since coming off the disabled list June 25, started the toboggan ride in the sixth. He faced five batters and retired none in the inning.
"It was a weird inning," Harang said. "They hit some balls that found holes and some that fell in front of outfielders. There's nothing you can do about that."
For the night, Harang went five innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits. In his first four starts since coming off the DL, Harang had allowed three runs over 25 innings.
The Reds started the day 31/2 games back in the National League wild-card race, with four teams to pass.
The Reds have lost four straight and are 3-7 since the All-Star break. They are giving up an average of 7.4 runs in the 10 games.
At 50-48, the Reds are down to two games over .500 for the first time since May 18.
Before the game, Miley said struggling starter Jose Acevedo would remain in the rotation.
"We need to develop guys," Miley said, to explain the move.
With the non-waiver trading deadline six days away, the Reds would seem to be teetering from buyer to seller.
That is weighing on the players' minds.
"We just have to see what happens," Larkin said. "Everyone knows what happened last year. The one good thing is (Ken Griffey Jr.) is progressing well and should be back soon.
"But it's up to us to right the ship."
Larkin got the Reds an early lead in the first with his sixth home run of the year. The RBI was the 951st of Larkin's career, moving him past Concepcion and into sole possession of fifth place on the Reds' all-time list.
The Reds chased starter Josh Fogg in the third inning by scoring two runs and loading the bases with no outs.
Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon is known for a quick hook. He used it, and it worked to perfection. Ryan Vogelsong came in and struck out Wily Mo Pena and Jacob Cruz, then got Jason LaRue to pop out to leave the bases loaded.
"It sounds strange to say," Miley said. "But that was a big inning. We had a chance to do some damage there."
The Pirates made it 3-1 on Jack Wilson's RBI double in the third.
The Reds got the run back in the fourth on Adam Dunn's two-out RBI double.
Harang retired the side 1-2-3 in the first and second but gave up the run in the third. He escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth and gave up another run in the fifth on Rob Mackowiak's sacrifice fly.
Then came the sixth.
The Pirates strung together seven hits. The Reds contributed an error and another bad fielding choice.
When it was over, 12 Pirates had come to the plate and the score was 9-4. Of the seven hits in the inning, only three came on hard-hit balls.
"They do a good job of putting it in play," Miley said.
That was a subtle reference to the Reds' third - when putting the ball in play could have broken the game open the other way.
"We had a chance to put the hatchet in them there," Casey said.
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Freel 3b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .269 |
| Larkin ss | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .300 |
| Hummel ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .232 |
| Casey 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .340 |
| Graves p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Dunn lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .266 |
| DJimenez 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .267 |
| WPena cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .285 |
| JaCruz rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .231 |
| Romano ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .154 |
| LaRue c | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .250 |
| Harang p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .030 |
| Riedling p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| PNorton p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| RWagner p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| TJones p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Vander Wal ph-1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .273 |
| Valentin ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .192 |
| Totals | 36 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 11 | |
| Pittsburgh | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Kendall c | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .315 |
| WRoberts p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Gonzalez p | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| JWilson ss | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .325 |
| Mackowiak 3b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .270 |
| CWilson rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .289 |
| Bay lf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .311 |
| TRedman cf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .266 |
| Simon 1b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .195 |
| Castillo 2b | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| Fogg p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .103 |
| Vogelsong p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 |
| TAlvarez ph | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .208 |
| Grabow p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Hill ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .279 |
| Meadows p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| ANunez ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .248 |
| House c | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
| Totals | 39 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 4 | 4 | |
| Cincinnati | 102 | 100 | 000 | -4 | 10 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh | 001 | 017 | 32x | -14 | 15 | 2 |
E-Freel (9), Larkin (4), CWilson (6), Fogg (2). LOB-Cincinnati 14, Pittsburgh 10. 2B-Larkin (13), Dunn (19), Kendall (18), Gonzalez (1), JWilson (23), CWilson (24), Bay (15), House (1). HR-Larkin (6), off Fogg. RBIs-Larkin 2 (36), Dunn (58), DJimenez (35), Kendall 2 (35), Gonzalez 2 (2), JWilson (38), Mackowiak 2 (49), CWilson 2 (57), Bay 3 (44), Simon (11), Hill (21). SB-Castillo (1). S-JWilson, Castillo. SF-Mackowiak. GIDP-JaCruz.
DP-Pittsburgh 1 (Castillo, JWilson and Simon).
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Harang L, 6-3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 84 | 4.62 |
| Riedling | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4.13 |
| PNorton | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5.03 |
| RWagner | 1 1/3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 7.04 |
| TJones | 1/3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 3.95 |
| Graves | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3.40 |
| Pittsburgh | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Fogg | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 40 | 5.91 |
| Vogelsong | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 55 | 6.69 |
| Grabow W, 1-4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4.76 |
| Meadows | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 2.96 |
| WRoberts | 1/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 0.00 |
| Gonzalez | 1 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 0.48 |
Harang pitched to 5 batters in the 6th, Riedling pitched to 2 batters in the 6th, Fogg pitched to 5 batters in the 3rd.
HBP-by Harang (TAlvarez), by Harang (Bay), by Fogg (Casey). WP-Fogg, Vogelsong.
T-3:14. A-37,752 (38,496).
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