By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

HOUSTON - The Reds figured out how to score on the Houston Astros on Tuesday.

They still don't have a clue on how to keep them for scoring.

The Astros beat the Reds 9-7 on Tuesday night before a crowd of 36,921 at Minute Maid Park - despite a pair of two-run homers by Sean Casey and three-run shot by Jason LaRue.

Sean Casey (21) is congratulated by teammate Felipe Lopez (2) after Casey's home run in the third inning. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The Astros have taken five straight from the Reds and they've done it with some serious offense.

The aggregate score? 48-18.

Tuesday's victory was the 11th straight overall for the Astros and 14th in their last 15 games. They've scored 106 runs in those 11 games.

"We battled back the last couple of innings," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "But any way you look at it, we fell short."

The Reds have lost seven of eight.

Paul Wilson was the victim of Tuesday's beating. He went five innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits. He walked six (two intentionally) and struck out three.

"I couldn't throw strikes," Wilson said. "When I did I got the ball up and they hammered it."

Wilson (9-6) has not won since July 8.

Roy Oswalt (17-9) left with a 9-2 lead to run his career record against the Reds to 11-0.

Houston took a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

The Reds tied it in the third on Casey's 22nd home run of the year - a two-run shot to right. Adam Dunn followed with his 30th double, becoming the first Red to have 30 doubles and 30 home runs in the same season since Barry Larkin in 1996. D'Angelo Jimenez followed with a walk, but Austin Kearns struck out, dousing the Reds' chance for a big inning.

The third inning did in Wilson. Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent hit back-to-back doubles to make it 3-2. Then Mike Lamb hit a home run to make it 5-2. All with two outs.

"When I had to make a pitch I couldn't execute it," Wilson said. "The pitch to Lamb was supposed to be in. It ran back over the plate."

Wilson gave up two more runs in the fifth, and Juan Padilla gave up a two-run homer to Carlos Beltran in the sixth to make it 9-2.

The Reds came back against the Astros' bullpen, but it was too little too late. LaRue's three-run homer in the eighth made it 9-5. Casey hit his second homer in the ninth to complete the scoring.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	3	1	1	0	2	0	.274
FLopez 3b	5	1	1	0	0	2	.250
Casey 1b	5	2	2	4	0	0	.338
Dunn lf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.270
DJimenez 2b	2	1	1	0	2	1	.259
Kearns rf	4	1	1	0	0	2	.226
LaRue c	3	1	1	3	0	0	.248
Machado ss	4	0	0	0	0	3	.000
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.122
Padilla p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Bragg ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.207
Myette p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valentine p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JaCruz ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.232
Larkin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.299
Totals	35	7	8	7	4	11

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio lf	5	1	2	1	0	2	.289
Lane lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.236
CBeltran cf	4	2	2	2	0	0	.270
Taveras pr-cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bagwell 1b	3	1	0	0	2	1	.268
Berkman rf	3	1	1	0	2	0	.313
JKent 2b	4	2	2	1	1	1	.288
Bruntlett pr-ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Lamb 3b	4	2	2	3	0	1	.312
JVizcaino ss-2b	3	0	1	0	1	1	.288
RChavez c	3	0	1	1	1	1	.207
Oswalt p	2	0	0	0	1	0	.150
Springer p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Gallo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lidge p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	31	9	11	8	8	7

Cincinnati	002	000	032	-7	8	0
Houston	023	022	00x	-9	11	0

LOB-Cincinnati 6, Houston 9. 2B-Dunn (30), DJimenez (22), Biggio (41), Berkman (33), JKent (28), JVizcaino (19). 3B-CBeltran (2). HR-LaRue (14), off Springer; CBeltran (23), off Padilla; Lamb (11), off PWilson; Casey 2 (23), off Lidge, Oswalt. RBIs-Casey 4 (88), LaRue 3 (46), Biggio (54), CBeltran 2 (50), JKent (90), Lamb 3 (53), RChavez (16). S-Oswalt. SF-Lamb. GIDP-Lamb.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (DJimenez, Machado and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 9-6	5	7	7	7	6	3	104	4.89
Padilla	1	2	2	2	1	2	22	7.36
Myette	1	1	0	0	1	2	23	0.00
Valentine	1	1	0	0	0	0	10	7.64

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Oswalt W, 17-9	7 2/3	6	4	4	3	9	118	3.59
Springer	1/3	1	1	1	0	0	13	1.93
Gallo	1/3	0	1	1	1	0	10	5.04
Lidge	2/3	1	1	1	0	2	12	2.05

Inherited runners-scored-Springer 2-2, Lidge 1-1.

IBB-off PWilson (RChavez) 1, off PWilson (JVizcaino) 1. HBP-by Myette (CBeltran), by Oswalt (LaRue). WP-PWilson.

T-2:44. A-36,921 (40,950).