By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

HOUSTON - Reds manager Dave Miley said it felt like deja vu all over again.

A Reds pitcher would leave a pitch up and an Astros hitter would launch the ball into the seats at Minute Maid Park.

Roger Clemens pitched seven innings, giving up four hits and one run, for his 16th win of the season. (AP photo)

Wednesday, all the fireworks were in the first inning, when the Astros hit four home runs off Cincinnati starter Jose Acevedo on the way to a 5-2 victory over the Reds.

"We talked to him in a meeting (Tuesday) about keeping the ball down in the zone," Miley said. "When (pitching coach Don Gullett) went to the mound, he talked to him about keeping the ball down."

Acevedo said he tried to follow the plan.

"I'm the kind of guy when I feel too strong, I have trouble keeping the ball down," he said.

It was the 12th straight win for the Astros, who completed their second sweep of the Reds in nine days.

The Reds have lost eight of nine.

Wednesday marked the launch of the Reds' modified six-man rotation. The plan is to use Acevedo as a starter to give Luke Hudson and Brandon Claussen extra rest.

Given Acevedo's outing, the Reds might want to rethink that.

The Reds gave Acevedo a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Ryan Freel singled off Astros starter Roger Clemens, stole second (his 30th steal), went to third on a Juan Castro flyout and scored on Sean Casey's sacrifice fly.

But Craig Biggio hit the first pitch Acevedo threw for his 39th leadoff home run, and Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman and Mike Lamb followed with homers to give Houston a 5-1 lead.

It was the first time a Reds pitcher has given up four homers in an inning since Jeff Austin did so May 28, 2003. Four in one inning also matches a big-league record accomplished many times.

Berkman's home run was the 200th allowed by the Reds this year - most in the majors. (It only seems as if Berkman has hit half of them; his homer Wednesday was his eighth off the Reds this year and his 27th off them in his career.)

Acevedo was gone after one inning and allowed the five runs on six hits. He is 5-11 as a starter with a 6.65 ERA. As a reliever, he has not given up a run over six appearances and nine innings.

The bullpen - John Riedling, Phil Norton, Ryan Wagner, Mike Matthews, Todd Van Poppel and Danny Graves - kept the Reds in it with seven innings of scoreless relief.

But Clemens (16-4) gave up only three singles after the first inning.

"The bullpen gave us a chance," Miley said. "We couldn't muster an offense."

The Reds scored a run off the Astros' bullpen in the eighth on D'Angelo Jimenez's two-out RBI single.

Astros 5, Reds 2

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	3	1	2	0	1	0	.277
JCastro 3b	5	1	1	0	0	2	.251
Casey 1b	2	0	0	1	0	0	.337
Dunn lf	2	0	0	0	2	1	.269
DJimenez 2b	4	0	2	1	0	1	.261
Kearns rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.220
FLopez ss	4	0	1	0	0	2	.250
Valentin c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.221
JoAcevedo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.050
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
a-Bragg ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.203
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
b-JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.230
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
d-Larkin ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.298
Totals	32	2	7	2	3	10

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio lf	5	1	1	1	0	0	.288
Lidge p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
OPalmeiro rf	4	0	1	0	1	0	.242
Taveras cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bagwell 1b	3	1	3	1	1	0	.273
Berkman cf-rf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.313
JKent 2b	3	1	0	0	1	3	.286
Lamb 3b	4	1	3	2	0	0	.320
Bruntlett ss	4	0	0	0	0	3	.227
Ausmus c	3	0	2	0	1	0	.252
Clemens p	3	0	0	0	0	0	.180
Qualls p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Gallo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Springer p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
c-CBeltran ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.269
Lane lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.236
Totals	34	5	11	5	4	7

Cincinnati	100	000	010	-2	7	0
Houston	500	000	00x	-5	11	0

a-popped out for Norton in the 5th. b-struck out for Matthews in the 7th. c-grounded out for Springer in the 8th. d-struck out for Graves in the 9th.

LOB-Cincinnati 9, Houston 9. 2B-FLopez (13), Lamb (13). HR-Lamb (12), off JoAcevedo; Berkman (27), off JoAcevedo; Bagwell (24), off JoAcevedo; Biggio (21), off JoAcevedo. RBIs-Casey (89), DJimenez (55), Biggio (55), Bagwell (73), Berkman (90), Lamb 2 (55). SB-Freel (30). CS-Freel (9). SF-Casey. GIDP-Ausmus.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (JCastro, DJimenez, Kearns); Houston 3 (JKent 2, Clemens).

Runners moved up-JCastro, Valentin, Berkman.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (DJimenez and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JoAcevedo L, 5-11	1	5	5	5	1	1	38	6.22
Riedling	2	2	0	0	1	3	39	4.57
PNorton	1	1	0	0	1	1	24	5.43
RWagner	1	1	0	0	0	1	17	4.47
MMatthews	1	1	0	0	1	1	19	7.36
Van Poppel	1	1	0	0	0	0	10	6.22
Graves	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	4.16

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Clemens W, 16-4	7	4	1	1	2	6	103	3.19
Qualls	1/3	1	1	1	0	0	8	5.09
Gallo	1/3	0	0	0	0	1	7	5.00
Springer H, 4	1/3	1	0	0	0	1	10	1.80
Lidge S, 21	1	1	0	0	1	2	26	2.02

Inherited runners-scored-Gallo 1-0, Springer 2-1.

IBB-off Riedling (Ausmus) 1. HBP-by Gallo (Casey), by Clemens (Freel).

Umpires-Home, Gerry Davis; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Greg Gibson; Third, Larry Poncino.

T-3:01. A-35,445 (40,950).