By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

As Casey Fossum completed an intentional walk with two outs in the sixth inning Saturday, Reds pitcher Jose Acevedo was summoned from the on-deck circle back to the dugout.

A 78-pitch quality start intact, his night was over.

The Reds were in search of offense - and have been in recent days - with two runners on base in a tie game.

Fossum struck out pinch hitter Felipe Lopez to end the inning, and Arizona followed with four runs off Reds relievers to win 6-3 before 26,185 rain-dampened fans at Great American Ball Park.

Five Arizona pitchers combined to allow just four hits in a game that started 57 minutes late because of thunderstorms.

"We're struggling at the plate right now," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "Give their pitcher some credit, but we're not swinging it like we did three, four, five days ago."

For Acevedo, who allowed two runs on eight hits over six innings with his mother Fernanda and family in the stands, Saturday represented his best start since early July.

"That's what he's capable of doing," Miley said.

But with Paul Wilson scheduled to come off the 15-day disabled list and rejoin the starting rotation Wednesday, Acevedo may be the odd man out.

The right-hander has made four relief appearances and three starts this month.

Saturday's outing, however, furthered the trend of quality starts by Reds pitchers.

Cincinnati starters have turned in nine quality starts, including five consecutive, over the past 10 games. The Reds are 5-5 in those games though.

Acevedo held the Diamondbacks to two hits through three innings.

Arizona strung together three consecutive singles to lead off the fourth inning and would take a 2-0 lead.

Right fielder Danny Bautista scored on a single by third baseman Chad Tracy, and first baseman Shea Hillenbrand scored on a ground ball up the middle to make it 2-0.

Reds second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez fielded the grounder backhanded behind second base, and flipped the ball with his glove to a waiting Barry Larkin for the force out.

Reds reliever Phil Norton replaced Acevedo and started the seventh inning, but failed to retire any of the three batters he faced.

Arizona took the lead with an RBI single by catcher Juan Brito and scored two more in the inning after Norton was replaced by John Riedling.

All three runs were charged to Norton.

"He's leaving some balls up," Miley said.

Riedling allowed one run in the ninth.

The Reds scored two runs in the sixth inning, which would be Fossum's last.

The left-hander, who entered with a 3-12 record and 7.29 ERA this season, retired the Reds in order in the first inning, and the left-hander recorded the first two outs in second through fourth.

The final out in each inning took some work.

Cincinnati entered Saturday's game batting .225 with two outs, but went 0-for-3 during that three-inning span.

Catcher Jason LaRue came to bat with two runners and two outs in the second and fourth innings.

He grounded into a fielder's choice in the second, and struck out swinging on a full count in the fourth.

The Reds tied the game in the sixth after Fossum hit first baseman Sean Casey and walked left fielder Adam Dunn.

Jimenez's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, who scored on a single by right field Austin Kearns.

The Reds added their third run on a double by Ryan Freel in the ninth. Jacob Cruz was thrown out at home plate on the play.

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
McCracken lf	5	2	2	0	0	0	.302
Cintron 2b	4	0	1	1	0	1	.247
Fetters p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Koplove p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Baerga ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.211
Bruney p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Aquino p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
DBautista rf	5	1	2	1	0	0	.300
Hillenbrand 1b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.301
Tracy 3b	4	0	3	1	0	0	.293
Terrero cf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.292
Gil ss	4	1	1	1	0	0	.286
Brito c	4	0	1	1	0	2	.171
Fossum p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.032
Hairston ph-2b	2	1	1	0	0	1	.268
Totals	40	6	13	5	0	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b	5	0	1	1	0	2	.273
Larkin ss	5	0	1	0	0	0	.302
Casey 1b	3	1	0	0	0	0	.335
Dunn lf	3	1	0	0	1	1	.274
DJimenez 2b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.258
WPena cf	2	0	0	0	1	1	.251
Kearns rf	2	1	2	2	2	0	.223
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	1	2	.248
JoAcevedo p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.050
FLopez ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.239
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JaCruz ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.240
Totals	29	3	4	3	6	10

Arizona	000	200	301	-6	13	0
Cincinnati	000	002	001	-3	4	2

E-WPena (7), Kearns (2). LOB-Arizona 7, Cincinnati 8. 2B-McCracken (11), Terrero (8), Gil (1), Freel (16). RBIs-Cintron (43), DBautista (62), Tracy (42), Gil (1), Brito (11), Freel (23), Kearns 2 (15). S-DJimenez.

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Fossum W, 4-12	6	3	2	2	4	8	92	7.06
Fetters H, 1	1	0	0	0	0	1	9	9.00
Koplove H, 13	1	0	0	0	0	0	15	4.08
Bruney	2/3	1	1	1	2	1	24	3.93
Aquino S, 9	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	2.86

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JoAcevedo	6	6	2	2	0	4	78	6.07
PNorton L, 1-4	0	3	3	3	0	0	11	5.00
Riedling	3	4	1	1	0	2	45	4.50

PNorton pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Aquino 1-0, Riedling 2-1.

IBB-off Fossum (LaRue) 1. HBP-by Fossum (Casey), by Fossum (WPena). WP-Riedling 2.

Umpires-Home, Chris Guccione; First, Marty Foster; Second, Joe Brinkman; Third, Jeff Nelson.

T-2:46. A-26,185 (42,271).