By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Reds manager Dave Miley summed up his club's situation simply but perfectly: "We've just basically got to win some ballgames. Hopefully, it starts today."

It didn't.

The Reds opened their six-game homestand with a 9-6, 11-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals before a crowd of 23,155 on a rainy night at Great American Ball Park.

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Photos of Monday's game

The Reds played well all night and then watched it fall apart in the four-run disaster that was the 11th. None of the four runs were earned because of Wily Mo Pena's error on a routine fly ball.

"He basically just dropped it," Miley said. "When things are going bad . . ."

Left-hander Phil Norton started the 11th and walked Jim Edmonds on four pitches. The Reds brought on John Riedling to face former Red Reggie Sanders, who flied out to right. John Mabry followed with a check-swing single into left.

Mike Matheny hit one to shallow right. Pena called off center fielder Ryan Freel, but the ball went off Pena's glove. It was raining fairly hard at the time.

"(The rain) bothered me a little," Pena said. "But I told Freel, 'I got it! I got it!.' It hit off (the heel of my glove). It can happen to anybody. It happened to me tonight."

Bases loaded, one out.

Tony Womack singled in Edmonds to make it 6-5. Pinch-hitter So Taguchi got in another run with a sacrifice fly. Edgar Renteria singled in two more to make it 9-5.

The Reds, losers of six straight, are at .500 (50-50) for the first time since they were 17-17 on May 13.

"You've just got to keep your head up and play good baseball," Miley said.

The Reds are coming close to the point where they'll be playing for pride. They started the night 41/2 games back in the National League wild-card race.

The teams tied the Great American Ball Park record with six home runs - Pena, Adam Dunn and D'Angelo Jimenez homered for the Reds.

The final home run of the night - a two-out solo shot from Albert Pujols in the eighth - was the killer for the Reds. It tied the game at 5.

Paul Wilson, who served up Pujols' shot, saw that - not Pena's misplay - as the killer for the Reds.

"That was my win," Wilson said. "My responsibility. I let it go."

The Reds took an early 3-0 lead. Juan Castro walked with one out in the first and Sean Casey got him in with a tracer into left-center for a double. The hit extended Casey's hitting streak to seven games. He has five doubles, a homer and seven RBI during the streak.

An out later, Jimenez hit his seventh home run - a high shot that got just inside the foul pole in right.

The Reds have scored 72 runs in the first. That's 13 more runs than they've scored in any other inning. They are at their best early. They've outscored their opponents in the first, second and third innings. They've been outscored in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth.

That goes a long way toward explaining why the Reds have lost 33 games in which they once led.

The Cardinal comeback started in the second. Scott Rolen led off with a single. Edmonds followed with a deep drive to center field that Pena got to on the warning track but simply did not catch.

Sanders followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. Rolen homered to right-center, his 21st, in the fourth to get the Cardinals within one.

The Cardinals took the lead in the fifth on Edmonds' 25th home run, a two-run shot.

The Reds got the lead back in the bottom of the inning. Dunn hit the first pitch of the inning way out to right-center. It was Dunn's 27th of the year - tying his career-high set last year - and 99th of his career.

An out later, Pena hit one out the opposite way to right-center for his 16th of the year and a 5-4 lead. The blast gave Pena nine home runs and 17 RBI in his last 15 games.

Wilson held the lead for 1 2/3 innings. He got the first two outs of the eighth. But he fell behind Pujols 3-0. Pujols took a strike, fouled one off, then hit his 29th home run to tie it at 5-5.

"It was the right pitch selection," Wilson said. "I just executed it terribly." The homer came on Wilson's 112th and last pitch.

"He left his heart and soul out there," Miley said.

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
MAnderson 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.244
Kline p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Tavarez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Cedeno ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.297
Eldred p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
King p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taguchi ph	0	0	0	1	0	0	.255
Isringhausen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Renteria ss	6	0	1	2	0	0	.287
Pujols 1b	5	2	2	1	1	0	.325
Rolen 3b	6	2	2	1	0	1	.328
Edmonds cf	4	2	2	2	1	0	.286
RSanders rf	4	0	0	1	0	2	.252
Mabry lf	4	1	2	0	1	1	.306
Matheny c	5	1	1	0	0	1	.249
WWilliams p	2	0	1	0	0	0	.243
Luna ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Calero p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Womack 2b	2	1	1	1	0	0	.292
Totals	44	9	12	9	3	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b-cf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.271
JCastro ss-3b	3	1	0	0	2	0	.257
Casey 1b	5	1	2	1	0	0	.343
Dunn lf	5	2	1	1	0	1	.264
DJimenez 2b	5	1	1	2	0	1	.263
WPena cf-rf	5	1	2	2	0	0	.289
Vander Wal rf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.200
FLopez ss	2	0	0	0	0	0	.146
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	1	3	.251
PWilson p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.146
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.229
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	41	6	7	6	3	9

St. Louis	010	102	010	04	-9	12	1
Cincinnati	300	002	000	01	-6	7	2

E-Mabry (3), WPena (4), FLopez (4). LOB-St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 5. 2B-Rolen (22), Edmonds (28), Mabry (6), Casey 2 (32), WPena (6). HR-Pujols (29), off PWilson; WPena (16), off WWilliams; Dunn (27), off WWilliams; Edmonds (25), off PWilson; Rolen (21), off PWilson; DJimenez (7), off WWilliams. RBIs-Taguchi (15), Renteria 2 (46), Pujols (73), Rolen (89), Edmonds 2 (66), RSanders (49), Womack (26), Casey (62), Dunn (59), DJimenez 2 (37), WPena 2 (41). SB-Womack (15). SF-Taguchi, RSanders. GIDP-Matheny.

Runners left in scoring position-St. Louis 4 (Rolen 2, Matheny, Womack); Cincinnati 4 (Casey, Dunn, LaRue).

Runners moved up-Pujols, Rolen, Dunn, FLopez.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (JCastro and Casey).

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WWilliams	6	5	5	5	3	5	106	4.19
Calero	1	0	0	0	0	1	13	2.76
Kline	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	2.23
Tavarez	1	0	0	0	0	1	14	2.97
Eldred	2/3	1	0	0	0	0	13	4.82
King W, 4-1	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	2	1.66
Isringhausen	1	1	1	0	0	2	18	2.63

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson	7 2/3	6	5	5	2	6	112	3.84
TJones	1 1/3	2	0	0	0	0	16	3.79
Graves	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	3.33
PNorton L, 1-3	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	5.03
Riedling	1	4	3	0	0	1	25	4.05

PNorton pitched to 1 batter in the 11th.

Inherited runners-scored-King 1-0, Riedling 1-1.

Umpires-Home, Mike Winters; First, Tim Timmons; Second, Bruce Froemming; Third, Hunter Wendelstedt.

T-3:35. A-23,155 (42,271).