By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

DENVER - Brandon Claussen got his introduction to pitching in Coors Field Friday night.

Among the lessons he learned:

• A four-run lead isn't much.

• Walking hitters and getting behind in the count is a very bad idea.

• And the gaps are the size of the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado Rockies came back to beat the Reds and Claussen 8-5 before a crowd of 26,187 on a gorgeous night at Coors.

Reds third baseman Juan Castro throws out Colorado's Aaron Miles to end the second inning. (AP photo)

Claussen pitched OK, by Coors standards. He went six innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits. He walked three and struck out two. With better defense, he might have left with the lead or at least with the game tied.

The walks were huge: Two of three batters he walked scored. Ryan Wagner, who followed Claussen, also walked a batter who scored.

"We talked about it in the advance meeting," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "With the way the ball carries, you can't walk guys. You have to make your pitch."

Claussen's problem was that his usual out pitch - the inside fastball - was not working.

"I couldn't locate my fastball in," Claussen said. "They pretty much laid off it and waited for something out over the plate."

The long ball accounted for most of the Reds' offense. Adam Dunn hit his fourth in three games - a two-run shot - and Wily Mo Pena and Felipe Lopez hit solo shots.

Ryan Freel had a big night. He equaled a career high with four hits and just missed a fifth. Colorado shortstop Royce Clayton went high to making a leaping snag on the last play of the game.

The Reds started the game Coors Field-style - banging the ball all over the place.

Freel led off with a single to right and took second when Jeromy Burnitz bobbled the ball. He moved to third on a long flyout by D'Angelo Jimenez.

Sean Casey got Freel home with a single to right.

Dunn made it 3-0 with a shot the opposite way to left. It was Dunn's 33rd of the year, which puts him on a 49-home run pace for the season.

Pena followed with a 420-foot rocket to straightaway center for his 17th of the year.

A four-run lead in Coors is not going to worry the Rockies. In fact, they cut the deficit in half in the first. Aaron Miles led off with a walk.

"It's hard enough to pitch here without giving them free bases," Claussen said.

An out later, Todd Helton made the walk hurt. He hit his 26th home run of the year, way up into the second deck in right.

Claussen knew what he was in for.

"The first inning explained how the ball carries here," Claussen said.

Claussen ran into more trouble in the second. Burnitz doubled to the wall. Dunn had trouble picking up the ball, allowing Burnitz to get to third. He scored on Charles Johnson's groundout.

Colorado starter Shawn Estes, who came in 11-4 with a 5.71 ERA, shook off the first and showed the way to pitch in Coors: Keep the ball down. Twelve of the last 16 outs he record were groundballs.

"After that first inning, he mixed it up good," Jimenez said. "He went away, away, away. He set us up good."

Claussen gave up the lead in the fifth. He walked the leadoff man, Miles, again. Clayton tried to sacrifice him over but beat it out for a single. Miles moved to third on Helton's flyout. More shoddy defense came into play; with Clayton running, Jason LaRue threw into center, allowing Miles to score.

Vinny Castilla and Preston Wilson followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to make it a 6-4 game.

Lopez got the Reds back to within a run with his third home run of the year. All three of his home runs have come in the last seven games.

Wagner and Phil Norton gave up single runs in the seventh and eighth to make it 8-5.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel rf	5	1	4	0	0	0	.275
DJimenez 2b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.256
Casey 1b	4	1	3	1	0	0	.343
Dunn lf	3	1	1	2	1	0	.277
WPena cf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.262
LaRue c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.244
JCastro 3b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.240
FLopez ss	4	1	1	1	0	0	.240
Claussen p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.167
Hummel ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.229
Vander Wal ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.192
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Griffey Jr. ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.253
Totals	36	5	12	5	1	3

Colorado	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Miles 2b	3	2	0	0	2	0	.310
Clayton ss	4	1	1	0	0	2	.284
Helton 1b	2	2	1	2	2	0	.329
Castilla 3b	4	1	3	1	0	0	.286
PrWilson cf	4	0	2	2	0	0	.248
Holliday lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.289
Burnitz rf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.297
CJohnson c	4	0	0	1	0	0	.253
Estes p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.192
Harikkala p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
TGreene ph	1	1	1	1	0	0	.270
Chacon p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	33	8	9	7	4	3

Cincinnati	400	000	100	-5	12	3
Colorado	210	030	11x	-8	9	1

E-Dunn (4), WPena (6), LaRue (8), Burnitz (5). LOB-Cincinnati 5, Colorado 5. 2B-Castilla (34), PrWilson (10), Burnitz (25). HR-TGreene (9), off PNorton; FLopez (3), off Estes; Helton (26), off Claussen; WPena (17), off Estes; Dunn (33), off Estes. RBI-Casey (68), Dunn 2 (70), WPena (45), FLopez (10), Helton 2 (71), Castilla (90), PrWilson 2 (24), CJohnson (43), TGreene (30). SB-Clayton (7). CS-Freel (8). GIDP-DJimenez, Dunn, Miles.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (Freel 2, LaRue); Colorado 3 (Holliday 2, Burnitz).

Runners moved up-DJimenez, Dunn, WPena, Helton, PrWilson, CJohnson.

DP-Cincinnati 1; (FLopez and Casey); Colorado 2. (Clayton, Miles and Helton), (Miles, Clayton and Helton).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Claussen L, 1-2	6	7	6	5	3	2	105	4.98
RWagner	1	1	1	1	1	1	19	6.59
PNorton	1	1	1	1	0	0	12	4.89

Colorado	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Estes W, 12-4	6 1/3	8	5	5	1	1	110	5.77
Harikkala H, 12	1 2/3	2	0	0	0	1	18	3.04
Chacon S, 26	1	2	0	0	0	1	22	7.28

WP-RWagner.

Umpires-Home, Dale Scott; First, Ron Kulpa; Second, Bill Miller; Third, Brian Gorman.

T-2:37. A-26,187 (50,449).