By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Cardinals baserunner Larry Walker (left) is tagged out at home plate by Reds catcher Jason LaRue Wednesday at St. Louis. Walker was trying to score on a double by Albert Pujols. The Associated Press/JAMES A. FINLEY

ST. LOUIS - Of the five young pitchers in the Reds rotation, Josh Hancock is probably the one the Reds expect the least from.

But a couple more starts like Wednesday's definitely will change that.

Hancock, a 26-year-old right-hander, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, to beat the mighty St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 Wednesday at Busch Stadium.

It got very dicey at the end. Danny Graves gave up two runs in the ninth and had to face Albert Pujols with runners at first and second.

"I was going to call timeout in the ninth and get some Tums," Sean Casey said. "My stomach was churning."

But Pujols grounded to third baseman Juan Castro to end it.

The win was only the Reds' third in 16 tries against the Cardinals, but the Reds were happier with Hancock's performance.

"He was outstanding," Reds manager Dave Miley said.

Hancock would have gone longer had he not been on a 90-pitch count. In his second start for the Reds, he kept the Cardinals off balance by mixing 91- and 92-mph fastballs with 81-mph off-speed pitches.

"I was getting ahead of them," Hancock said. "When you get ahead, you can play with them."

The Reds got Hancock in the Todd Jones' trade with the Philadelphia. Hancock has worked out so far: He's 3-0 with a 4.72 ERA for Cincinnati.

"I needed this start for myself," Hancock said. "I wanted to show I could face this team and be successful."

Hancock's good outing followed Brandon Claussen's strong effort (six innings, one run) Tuesday. It was the first time the Reds have gotten back-to-back quality starts since July 19-20 against Milwaukee.

On Wednesday, unlike Tuesday, the bullpen was able to hold the lead. Phil Norton (two-thirds of an inning), Ryan Wagner (one-third) and Gabe White (one-third) got it to Graves.

Graves would face seven batters in the ninth. He allowed a single, double and triple and walked one.

"That 27th out is hard to get against (the Cardinals)," Miley said. "We didn't expect to be facing (Larry) Walker and Pujols."

The Reds jumped on St. Louis starter Woody Williams, their favorite Cardinals pitcher.

Felipe Lopez singled and D'Angelo Jimenez doubled to start the game. Sean Casey drove in Lopez with a groundout, and Adam Dunn doubled to score Jimenez.

The Reds tacked on two more runs in the second on Casey's two-out single.

The early Reds lead was no shocker. Williams came into 9-6 with a 3.79 ERA, but he's struggled against the Reds. In nine of his last 12 starts, he's given up two runs or fewer. In other three - all against the Reds - he's allowed five each time.

Scott Rolen made it 4-1 in the fourth with his 29th home run.

Wily Mo Pena answered in the fifth, hitting his 22nd homer of the year to make it 5-1. The homer broke a 0-for-12 skid for Pena.

The Cardinals scored a run in the fifth, but a nice defensive play kept it from being two. Pujols doubled into the left field corner with two outs and runners on first and second, but the Dunn-to-Lopez-to-Jason LaRue relay nailed Walker at the plate.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	5	1	1	0	0	3	.265
DJimenez 2b	4	1	1	0	1	0	.257
Casey 1b	4	0	1	3	0	0	.339
Dunn lf	4	0	1	1	0	3	.279
WPena cf	4	1	1	1	0	2	.256
Bragg rf	3	0	1	0	1	1	.200
LaRue c	4	1	2	0	0	0	.255
JCastro 3b	4	1	1	0	0	2	.249
Hancock p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.200
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larkin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.306
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	35	5	9	5	2	13

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
MAnderson 2b	5	0	1	1	0	0	.230
LWalker rf	3	0	0	0	2	0	.326
Pujols 1b	5	0	2	1	0	0	.324
Rolen 3b	3	1	1	1	1	2	.328
Edmonds cf	3	0	1	0	1	0	.298
Renteria ss	4	1	2	0	0	1	.293
Mabry lf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.318
Matheny c	3	1	1	0	0	0	.247
Womack ph	1	1	1	1	0	0	.292
WWilliams p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.234
King p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cedeno ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.300
Simontacchi p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
RSanders ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.249
Totals	34	4	9	4	4	6

Cincinnati	220	010	000	-5	9	0
St. Louis	000	110	002	-4	9	0

LOB-Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 8. 2B-DJimenez (19), Dunn (24), Bragg (2), JCastro (18), Pujols 2 (35), Renteria 2 (30). 3B-Womack (2). HR-WPena (22), off WWilliams; Rolen (29), off Hancock. RBIs-Casey 3 (78), Dunn (76), WPena (57), MAnderson (23), Pujols (94), Rolen (105), Womack (32). S-Hancock, WWilliams.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hancock W, 3-1	6 2/3	5	2	2	3	3	88	6.45
PNorton H, 8	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.42
RWagner H, 6	1/3	1	0	0	0	1	10	5.45
GWhite H, 7	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	3	6.75
Graves S, 37	1	3	2	2	1	2	35	4.09

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WWilliams L, 9-7	6	9	5	5	1	11	121	3.93
King	1	0	0	0	0	1	10	2.14
Simontacchi	2	0	0	0	1	1	22	3.95

WP-RWagner. PB-Matheny.

T-2:58. A-35,960 (50,345).