By John Fay and Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writers

Ryan Wagner's resurgence makes it a lot easier to see how the bullpen could fall together for the Reds next year.

Lately, Wagner has looked a lot like the guy the Reds picked in the first round of the draft last year.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Wednesday's game

He pitched two scoreless innings in Tuesday night's 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. That ran his scoreless streak to 10 2/3 innings over eight appearances. He has given up two hits while striking out eight in the streak. He has allowed only three runs in his last 15 appearances (1.52 ERA).

"I'm just going out and throwing strikes and keeping the ball down," Wagner said. "When you do that, you're going to be successful."

Wagner, a 22-year-old right-hander, is 2-1 with a 4.81 ERA overall. But he correctly points out that two awful outings against the Chicago Cubs have skewed his stats.

Wagner gave up five runs without retiring a batter in an 8-1 loss in Chicago. He gave up four runs in 1 2/3 innings in a 12-3 loss to the Cubs in Cincinnati.

Throw out those two games and Wagner's ERA would be 2.86.

Wagner went 2-0 with a 1.66 ERA last year. He struggled at the start of this year. His ERA was 6.75 after his first 18 games, then he was sent to Triple-A Louisville, where he went 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA.

Wagner has gotten steadily better since his return July 4. He has continued to excel since he has been put in a more prominent setup role

One of the differences is hitters can't sit on his fastball.

"I'm sure the scouting report says I throw all my pitches for strikes," he said.

That includes the slider - Wagner's out pitch.

"He's thrown well," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "He said it gives you confidence when we put you out there in those situations."

WON'T BE LONG: The Reds are on the verge of getting their No. 1 starter back in the rotation.

Paul Wilson, who has been on the 15-day disabled list since Aug. 14 with lower back pain, will throw to hitters during batting practice Friday. If all goes well, he will be reinstated from the DL on Wednesday and start against the Astros.

"We decided it would probably be best if he faced some hitters first," Miley said.

The Reds have not decided who will come out of the rotation to make room for Wilson. Rosters can expand to 40 players Wednesday.

ANOTHER DAY: Outfielder Wily Mo Pena said Wednesday that he expects to take batting practice today.

Pena sprained his left wrist on a check swing Friday. He had a cortisone shot Monday.

"I feel a little bit of pain," Pena said. "But they told me it was going to feel much better after three days. And today I feel good. (Tuesday) I couldn't move it much."

CLUBHOUSE IDOL: Josh Stewart, a Reds clubhouse assistant, sang a stirring rendition of the national anthem before Wednesday's game. He got high-five treatment from the players when he returned to the dugout.

FARM REPORT: Left-hander Damian Moss has not found his form since being signed by the Reds and put in the Triple-A Louisville rotation.

Moss was beat up in the Bats' 9-2 loss to Columbus Tuesday. Moss allowed eight runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked seven. He's 0-2 with a 10.24 ERA since signing following his release by Tampa Bay.

Single-A Dayton fell to Kane County 7-1. It was the Dragons' third straight loss. They've lost 12 of 13 and 20 of 23. Dayton is 17-41 in the second half.

NEXT: The Reds wrap up the series today with a 7:10 p.m. game. Right-hander Aaron Harang (7-6, 4.45 ERA) faces right-hander Chris Carpenter (13-4, 3.74).

REDS FACT: Today's starter, Aaron Harang, has gone 3-4 with a 3.47 ERA in 10 starts since a stint on the disabled list. He has lost his last three starts, posting a 5.29 ERA.

Reds statistics

(Through Wednesday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.338	.394	435	80	147	39	2	20	81	37	26	1	0	6
Larkin	.307	.357	313	54	96	15	3	7	42	26	35	2	0	4
Freel	.279	.383	387	53	108	15	5	1	22	55	67	27	8	12
Dunn	.273	.401	436	83	119	25	0	37	78	88	147	4	1	5
Jimenez	.262	.357	443	58	116	20	2	10	50	65	76	11	6	6
Pena	.254	.307	284	36	72	8	1	22	57	17	93	4	1	6
Griffey	.253	.351	300	49	76	18	0	20	60	44	67	1	0	1
LaRue	.253	.337	320	41	81	18	2	13	42	23	84	0	2	8
Lopez	.248	.315	129	19	32	11	0	4	17	12	39	0	0	9
Castro	.245	.276	245	29	60	19	2	3	19	11	41	1	0	8
Cruz	.233	.319	120	18	28	6	0	3	23	11	34	0	0	0
Valentin	.224	.286	152	15	34	7	1	5	16	13	26	0	0	4
Kearns	.213	.333	94	12	20	3	1	3	13	16	32	1	1	1
Larson	.212	.304	118	13	25	6	0	3	14	14	35	1	0	5
Bragg	.191	.255	47	7	9	3	0	2	4	4	17	0	0	0
Romano	.154	.214	26	3	4	0	0	1	3	2	10	0	0	0
Vander Wal	.146	.186	41	2	6	2	0	2	4	2	16	0	0	0
Team Totals	.254	.335	4259	591	1080	225	19	157	562	464	995	55	19	83

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Hudson	1	1	3.63	3	3	0	17.1	18	8	7	1	7	12
Graves	1	5	4.09	61	0	37	61.2	68	33	28	12	11	38
Harang	7	6	4.45	21	21	0	119.1	132	61	59	11	42	95
Norton	1	3	4.50	56	0	0	54.0	56	31	27	4	26	36
Wilson	9	4	4.54	23	23	0	142.2	157	76	72	22	51	92
Riedling	4	3	4.57	56	0	0	63.0	66	40	32	7	32	33
Wagner	2	1	4.81	38	0	0	39.1	45	25	21	4	22	25
Claussen	2	3	5.25	7	7	0	36.0	35	24	21	5	19	19
Hancock	3	1	5.72	10	5	0	28.1	36	20	18	9	11	15
Van Poppel	3	5	6.15	31	10	0	93.2	110	65	64	16	20	60
Acevedo	5	10	6.21	27	23	0	130.1	155	93	90	24	40	99
White	1	1	6.59	28	0	0	28.2	29	21	21	11	4	24
Valentine	1	2	7.84	7	1	1	10.1	8	9	9	2	11	7
Matthews	2	1	8.84	22	0	0	18.1	23	19	18	6	10	8
Team Totals	60	65	5.22	125	125	39	1110.2	1235	699	644	174	417	739