By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

ST. LOUIS - These are difficult times for John Riedling. He is struggling professionally, while dealing with a personal trauma.

Riedling's father, Jack, died Aug. 3.

"It's tough," John said. "But that's life. You've got to go on."

Riedling was on the bereavement list from Aug. 3-9.

When he came back, he struggled with his control. He walked four in his first outing.

"I hadn't picked up a ball in seven days," he said. "Then (Monday), I decided I was going to go after hitters and not walk anyone."

Unfortunately for Riedling, the first hitter he faced was Albert Pujols, arguably the best hitter in baseball.

Riedling got ahead of Pujols 0-2, then hung a slider. Pujols hit the ball 480 feet into the night for a three-run home run.

Riedling was perplexed by the whole thing.

"I normally don't throw an 0-2 pitch like that," he said. "I don't know how it ended up down the middle."

Riedling's struggles go back a ways. Going into Tuesday, he had a 6.87 ERA over his last 34 games. Early in the season, Riedling was untouchable. He had a 0.41 ERA after his first 20 games.

"I think I'm thinking too much," Riedling said.

SKIPPING ACEVEDO: With the off day Thursday, the Reds will skip right-hander Jose Acevedo's turn in the rotation.

That means Luke Hudson, Aaron Harang and Brandon Claussen will start the three games against the Diamondbacks in the Arizona.

"We'll keep those guys on their fifth day," manager Dave Miley said.

Yes, the Reds do get Randy Johnson in Phoenix. He goes Friday against Hudson.

Acevedo is available in the bullpen. He was used as a reliever twice the last time his spot in the rotation was skipped. He threw a total of three scoreless innings.

NOT SO FLY: The Reds have failed miserably over the last few games with a runner on third base and less than two outs.

That is no surprise. They are last in the National League with 19 sacrifice flies. By comparison, the Cardinals lead the NL with 55 sac flies. Neither the cleanup hitter (Adam Dunn) nor the No. 5 hitter (Wily Mo Pena) has a sacrifice fly.

"We've got to find a way to get those runs in," Miley said.

SO MUCH FOR STATS: Wondering why the Reds used Todd Van Poppel Monday for the seventh inning?

Pujols, Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria were a combined 3-for-21 off him. Pujols and Rolen doubled, and Renteria singled to score two runs.

KEARNS UPDATE: Austin Kearns was 2-for-5 with a double Monday in the second game of his rehab with Triple-A Louisville.

FARM REPORT: Right-hander Dustin Moseley went seven shutout innings, allowing six hits, in Louisville's 7-0 victory over Toledo Monday.

Lance Caraccioli pitched seven innings of one-run, four-hit ball in Double-A Chattanooga's 9-1 win over Greenville. Caraccioli, a 27-year-old left-hander, was signed by the Reds after being released by the New York Mets. He is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA for the Lookouts.

UP NEXT: The Reds wrap up the three-game series tonight with an 8:10 game. Right-hander Josh Hancock (2-1, 8,04 ERA) faces right-hander Woody Williams (9-6, 3.78).

REDS FACT: Cincinnati entered Tuesday 2-53 in games it trailed after eight innings this season.

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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

Reds statistics

Through Monday's game

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.340	.395	409	78	139	38	2	19	74	34	24	1	0	6
Larkin	.307	.356	303	54	93	15	3	7	41	25	34	2	0	4
Dunn	.282	.407	412	80	116	23	0	36	75	82	139	4	1	5
Freel	.281	.381	370	47	104	14	5	1	21	51	64	22	8	12
Jimenez	.260	.356	415	52	108	18	2	7	44	61	71	9	6	6
Pena	.260	.315	273	35	71	8	1	21	56	17	87	3	1	6
Lopez	.260	.330	104	17	27	9	0	4	13	11	29	0	0	9
Griffey	.253	.351	300	49	76	18	0	20	60	44	67	1	0	1
Castro	.250	.280	228	26	57	17	2	3	19	10	37	0	0	7
LaRue	.245	.327	298	38	73	15	1	13	41	21	80	0	2	8
Cruz	.235	.313	115	18	27	5	0	3	22	10	33	0	0	0
Valentin	.219	.268	151	15	33	7	1	5	16	10	26	0	0	4
Bragg	.217	.308	23	5	5	1	0	2	2	3	6	0	0	0
Larson	.212	.304	118	13	25	6	0	3	14	14	35	1	0	5
Kearns	.195	.327	87	10	17	2	1	3	13	16	30	1	1	1
Vander Wal	.162	.184	37	2	6	2	0	2	4	1	14	0	0	0
Romano	.154	.214	26	3	4	0	0	1	3	2	10	0	0	0
Team Totals	.255	.335	4024	561	1027	208	18	151	534	436	927	46	19	82

8TD >65

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Graves	1	4	3.15	59	0	36	60.0	61	26	21	11	8	36
Norton	1	3	4.47	53	0	0	52.1	53	30	26	4	25	36
Riedling	4	3	4.50	54	0	0	60.0	64	38	30	6	32	32
Harang	7	5	4.53	20	20	0	113.1	126	59	57	11	41	93
Wilson	9	4	4.54	23	23	0	142.2	157	76	72	22	51	92
Wagner	2	1	5.50	34	0	0	34.1	44	25	21	4	20	21
Van Poppel	3	5	6.15	31	10	0	93.2	110	64	16	20	60
Acevedo	5	10	6.36	25	23	0	127.1	154	92	90	24	40	98
Claussen	1	3	6.93	5	5	0	24.2	26	22	19	5	15	13
White	1	1	7.00	25	0	0	27.0	28	21	21	11	4	22
Hancock	2	1	8.04	8	3	0	15.2	23	16	14	6	7	10
Hudson	0	1	8.44	1	1	0	5.1	8	6	5	0	1	3
Matthews	2	1	8.84	22	0	0	18.1	23	19	18	6	10	8
Valentine	0	1	9.95	3	1	0	6.1	7	7	7	2	7	4
Team Totals	56	62	5.34	118	118	37	1048.2	1181	676	622	168	392	704