stlcardinals.com
May 14, 2003

Cards can't solve Graves or Reds

By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

ST. LOUIS -- When the Reds moved Danny Graves from the bullpen to their starting rotation, they envisioned a transition as successful as Derek Lowe's in 2002, when the Boston right-hander won 21 games. If Graves could just make every start against the Cardinals, they might be spot on.

Graves completely silenced the Cards' bats for the second consecutive start Wednesday, easily outpitching St. Louis ace Matt Morris to record his first career complete game in a 4-0 Reds win. It was Cincinnati's sixth win in as many tries against the Cardinals this year, and moved the Redbirds a game below .500 for the first time April 27, when they were 11-12. St. Louis has lost seven of its last eight games after winning six in a row.

Morris didn't have a bad game, giving up four runs in six innings -- three of them on a single pitch. But it was still his worst start since Opening Day and tied for his shortest outing of the year. The defeat snapped a personal three-start winning streak for the big right-hander. He is still the only Cardinal with a win in the team's past eight games.

"It's real frustrating," Morris said. "Because we know down the stretch run this is a team we're gonna have to beat. It gives them confidence in September if they're gonna be in it."

Against the No. 1 home run-hitting team in the NL, Morris came out dealing. He retired the first six batters and nine of the first 10. But Sean Casey rapped a single with one out in the fourth, and Morris walked Ken Griffey Jr. to give the Reds their first man in scoring position. Austin Kearns capitalized, rocketing a three-run homer to left to break the tie. It was Kearns' 13th homer of the year, tied for second in the NL, and third against St. Louis.

"I got behind him 2-0, made a good fastball down and away that he took, and I was looking for him to roll over something like that," Morris said. "I end up throwing him a 3-1 hook -- which I did in the first inning also. ... I don't know if he was thinking about the curveball. I think it was just a meatball that was hanging up there. It started up so he was able to recognize it, and it never came down."

Two innings later, Griffey roped a two-out double to right that bounced over the wall with two outs, and once again Kearns took advantage of the opportunity. He singled up the middle, scoring Griffey for the fourth Reds run.

Meanwhile the Cardinals could do nothing at all against Graves, who was even more impressive than in his last win against them. He struck out one and walked one, recording 17 groundball outs. Twice the Cards managed to get two men on, but both times they failed to come up with the big hit.

Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria singled with one out in the second, but Tino Martinez grounded into a double play to end the inning. Back-to-back singles with one out by Fernando Vina and Eduardo Perez put runners on the corners in the sixth for the heart of the order. However, Albert Pujols lined out to third base, and Griffey hauled in a deep drive by Edmonds right at the wall in center field.

"What are you gonna do? You put some good swings on the ball and you're coming up empty," Rolen said. "That's why the best players hit .300 and everybody else hits about .250 -- because it's not an easy game. You're gonna line out. You're gonna hit some balls that don't go. Jimmy hits a ball to the track, right at the top. That could have turned the whole game around, but that's not how it's going now."