By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

DENVER - It's hard to blame a loss on the offense when your starting pitcher gives up a career-high 12 hits in six innings.

But to be successful at Coors Field you have to hit, and the Reds didn't - at least when it counted - in Saturday's 9-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies before a crowd of -33,649 at Coors.

The Reds had runners at first and second with one out in the second. They had the bases loaded and one out in the third. And they had runners at second and third with no outs in the sixth. In each case, they came away with zilch.

"The key was we had chances to score and didn't," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "We still scored five runs and 14 hits. If we had done something in those innings ..."

The Reds were 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position on the night.

"That's not a good number," Miley said.

"It's frustrating," Ryan Freel said. "We're getting a lot of hits. But we're not getting them in key situations."

The Rockies, on the other hand, put up five runs in the fifth.

Paul Wilson (9-3) failed for the fifth time to record his 10th win. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits.

"You look at his numbers in the morning," Miley said. "But he didn't pitch that bad. We could have made a couple more plays behind him."

Said Wilson: "It was just a bad start. My changeup was bad. My curveball was terrible."

Adam Dunn continued his home run barrage. His solo shot in the fifth was his 34th of the year and his fifth in four games. Dunn has homered in each of his last four games. The Reds' record of five straight games has been achieved three times: Ken Griffey Jr. (2003), Johnny Bench (1972) and Ted Kluszewski (1954).

The Reds jumped out to an early lead, thanks to the long ball for the second straight night.

John Vander Wal hit a two-run homer in the second, his second of the year.

But the Reds had to be disappointed with only two runs in the inning. Dunn led off the inning with a line shot that right fielder Jeromy Burnitz made a nice running catch on. Wily Mo Pena followed with a line single to left. Vander Wal then homered.

The Rockies made it a one-run game in the bottom of the second on back-to-back shots from Burnitz and Preston Wilson. Burnitz's was a Coors special - a 478-foot shot to straightaway center.

Colorado starter Aaron Cook, a 25-year-old from Hamilton, left the game in the third inning because of dizziness.

The Rockies took the lead in the bottom of the third. With runners at first and third and one out, Vinny Castilla hit what should have been an inning-ending double-play ball to Felipe Lopez. But Lopez bobbled the ball - which allowed Castilla to beat the throw to first - which in turn allowed Royce Clayton to score the go-ahead run.

The Reds got runners to second and third - this time with two outs - in the fourth. Again, nothing.

Dunn tied it up in the fifth with a 452-foot shot to center.

But the Rockies opened a five-run lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Rockies 9, Reds 5

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b	5	0	3	1	0	1	.280
DJimenez 2b	4	0	0	0	1	0	.253
Casey 1b	5	0	1	0	0	0	.341
Dunn lf	4	1	2	1	1	1	.279
WPena cf	5	1	1	0	0	2	.260
Vander Wal rf	5	1	1	2	0	2	.194
Valentin c	5	0	3	0	0	0	.215
FLopez ss	3	1	2	1	1	0	.256
PWilson p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.133
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
JaCruz ph	0	1	0	0	1	0	.234
Hancock p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	39	5	13	5	4	8

Colorado	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Miles 2b	5	1	3	0	0	0	.314
Clayton ss	5	1	1	1	0	1	.283
Helton 1b	4	0	2	0	1	0	.331
Castilla 3b	4	0	0	2	0	0	.284
Burnitz rf	3	2	2	1	1	0	.300
PrWilson cf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.249
Holliday lf	4	1	2	0	0	0	.292
TGreene c	3	0	1	1	0	1	.271
Estes pr	0	1	0	0	0	0	.192
CJohnson c	1	0	0	0	0	1	.252
Cook p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.118
Bernero p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Simpson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Piedra ph	1	1	1	2	0	0	1.000
Dohmann p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
MaSweeney ph	1	1	1	1	0	0	.292
SReed p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	37	9	14	9	2	4

Cincinnati	020	010	020	-5	13	2
Colorado	021	005	01x	-9	14	0

E-Casey (6), FLopez (7). LOB-Cincinnati 11, Colorado 7. 2B-Freel (12), Valentin (7), Holliday (21). 3B-Helton (2). HR-MaSweeney (6), off Hancock; FLopez (4), off Dohmann; Dunn (34), off Bernero; PrWilson (4), off PWilson; Burnitz (29), off PWilson; Vander Wal (2), off Cook. RBIs-Freel (20), Dunn (71), Vander Wal 2 (4), FLopez (11), Clayton (44), Castilla 2 (92), Burnitz (82), PrWilson (25), TGreene (31), Piedra 2 (2), MaSweeney (32). SB-Freel (21). SF-Castilla. GIDP-Helton.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 8 (DJimenez 5, Vander Wal 2, Valentin); Colorado 3 (Castilla, Burnitz, PrWilson).

DP-Cincinnati 1 (FLopez, DJimenez and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 9-3	5 1/3	12	8	7	2	1	100	4.14
Van Poppel	1 2/3	0	0	0	0	2	20	5.32
Hancock	1	2	1	1	0	1	23	8.49

Colorado	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Cook	2	5	2	2	0	1	30	4.28
Bernero	3	3	1	1	2	3	49	5.63
Simpson W, 1-1	1	1	0	0	1	1	14	5.59
Dohmann	2	2	2	2	1	2	35	4.03
SReed	1	2	0	0	0	1	13	2.59

WP-PWilson. PB-TGreene.

T-2:45. A-33,649 (50,449).