By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

The ball rolled into the no-man's land and Felipe Lopez knew. "There was no way they were getting me," the Reds shortstop said.

Sometimes all it takes to bust a slump, or a no-hitter in Cincinnati's case Sunday, is a ground ball between the pitcher's mound and the first-base line.

Adam Dunn heads around the bases after smacking a two-run homer off Edgar Gonzalez (background) in the seventh inning. (Enquirer photo/MICHAEL E. KEATING)

Diamondbacks pitcher Edgar Gonzalez, winless and extremely hittable in his previous seven starts this season, was working on a no-hitter until Lopez interrupted with an infield single during the seventh inning at Great American Ball Park.

"He was on fire," Lopez said. "But I think that little base hit frustrated him a bit.

"Maybe he got a little mad and got out of the zone."

The Reds scored a pair of runs off Gonzalez after Lopez reached base safely, and added four more off an Arizona bullpen that imploded in a 6-2 Cincinnati win before 25,306 fans.

The victory helped the Reds avoid a three-game sweep against the last-place Diamondbacks.

"He's got pretty good stuff," Reds first baseman Sean Casey said of Gonzalez. "But I don't think it's anything that should have no hit us for six.

"He pitched well, and you've got to give him credit, but we also thought we should have gotten to him a lot earlier."

The Reds haven't been no-hit by an opposing pitcher since Rick Wise did it 33 years ago.

And based on Gonzalez's track record this season - 0-7 with an 8.74 ERA and a .367 batting average against - six hitless innings was quite the accomplishment.

But two factors coincided Sunday: the Reds were already sputtering offensively and Gonzalez was locating his pitches with Greg Maddux-like precision.

"I'm not comparing him to Maddux by any means," Reds left fielder Adam Dunn said. "But he was keeping it down and away, sneaking (the fastball) in every once in a while and changing speeds."

Gonzalez walked Dunn once, but thanks to a double play faced the minimum 18 through six innings.

He walked Reds center fielder Ryan Freel to lead off the seventh inning to bring Lopez up for the third time.

Lopez hit the 86th pitch thrown by Gonzalez to Arizona first baseman Shea Hillenbrand, whose momentum carried him in the direction of second base. Hillenbrand flipped the ball to Gonzalez as he ran to cover the bag, but Lopez got there with a few steps to spare.

"We adjusted with an infield hit," Reds manager Dave Miley said afterward.

Casey grounded into a double play to follow, but then Dunn hit a two-run homer off Gonzalez that gave the Reds a 2-1 lead.

"That was about the only pitch he really gave me to hit," said Dunn, who now has 39 homers this season. "He just threw a change-up that was pretty much right there."

While Gonzalez was dealing - he allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings - Reds starter Josh Hancock held the Diamondbacks to one run over six innings.

Cincinnati reliever Todd Van Poppel allowed a solo home run in the eighth to tie the game at two, but got the win after the Reds scored four runs on three hits in their half of the inning.

Reliever Mike Fetters was charged with all four runs, but had help from those that followed him out of Arizona's bullpen.

"My job is to take it to the sixth or seventh . . . and turn it over to the bullpen and wait for these guys to catch fire," said Hancock, who has now made three consecutive quality starts. "It happened with Dunn's two-run home run. It just didn't stop after that."

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
McCracken rf	5	0	1	0	0	0	.299
AGreen lf	3	0	1	0	1	0	.228
Tracy 3b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.290
Hillenbrand 1b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.301
Hairston 2b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.268
Terrero cf	4	1	2	0	0	2	.300
Gil ss	4	0	1	1	0	3	.273
Cormier p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Snyder c	2	0	1	0	1	0	.211
Zinter ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.083
EGonzalez p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.200
Fetters p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Nance p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Cintron ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.247
Totals	35	2	8	2	2	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	3	2	1	1	1	0	.273
FLopez ss	4	1	2	0	0	1	.246
Casey 1b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.333
Dunn lf	3	1	1	2	1	1	.274
DJimenez 2b	3	0	1	1	1	0	.259
Kearns rf	3	0	0	1	1	0	.217
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.245
JCastro 3b	3	1	1	0	0	0	.246
Hancock p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Bragg ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.188
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
JaCruz ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.240
WPena pr	0	1	0	0	0	0	.251
Valentine p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	28	6	6	5	6	4

Arizona	000	001	010	-2	8	1
Cincinnati	000	000	24x	-6	6	0

E-Hillenbrand (13). LOB-Arizona 8, Cincinnati 4. 2B-Terrero 2 (10). HR-Hairston (12), off Van Poppel; Dunn (39), off EGonzalez. RBIs-Hairston (22), Gil (2), Freel (24), Dunn 2 (82), DJimenez (51), Kearns (16). SB-Gil (1). GIDP-Casey, Kearns.

Runners left in scoring position-Arizona 4 (Tracy, Hairston, Gil, EGonzalez); Cincinnati 2 (LaRue 2).

DP-Arizona 2.

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
EGonzalez	7	3	2	2	2	3	102	7.68
Fetters L, 0-1	1/3	3	4	4	1	1	17	11.30
Nance	1/3	0	0	0	2	0	17	3.68
Cormier	1/3	0	0	0	1	0	12	10.43

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hancock	6	7	1	1	2	6	114	4.98
RWagner	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	4.46
Van Poppel W, 4-5 BS, 1	1	1	1	1	0	2	21	6.14
Valentine	1	0	0	0	0	0	13	7.11

Inherited runners-scored-Cormier 3-1, Nance 2-1.

IBB-off Hancock (Snyder) 1.

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

T-2:51. A-25,306 (42,271).