Reds Ride Reese's HR, Top 'Stros

Any home run from Pokey Reese is a bit of a surprise.

Reese hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros 7-6 Sunday.

"He'll hit his five or six a year," said Reds manager Jack McKeon. "We would prefer that they come in those types of situations a tie game instead of when we're leading 9-2 or something like that."

Reese, who inherited the starting job at second base after Bret Boone was traded to Atlanta in the offseason, said he's a better hitter than is indicated by his .228 career average.

Reese homered in the sixth inning off reliever Doug Henry (0-1). One out later, Mike Cameron tripled and scored on Greg Vaughn's single to make it 7-5.

Pete Harnisch (2-2) got the win despite blowing a 4-0 lead. He went six innings, allowing five runs and seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

"It was ugly. The guys really picked me up," Harnisch said. "Early on, we got the big lead and the fans were in the game. Then I kicked it away, and they weren't. They were on me. But we came back."

Rookie Scott Williamson pitched three innings for his first career save. He gave up a solo homer to Derek Bell with two outs in the ninth, but struck out Jeff Bagwell for the final out.

Houston starter Sean Bergman gave up five runs and six hits in four innings, but was taken off the hook by home runs by Bagwell and Ken Caminiti.

"Six runs should be enough to win, but it isn't in the modern era as much as it used to be," said Houston manager Larry Dierker.

He said his pitchers need to do a better job of holding runners on base.

"We have some comeback abilit, but the thing that disturbed me was that they ran against us at will," Dierker said of the Reds' four stolen bases.

"This team is not going to beat us with longballs that much, but by running."

A single, walk and two wild pitches by Bergman gave the Reds one run in the second, and Cincinnati added two more in the inning on RBI singles by Eddie Taubensee and Cameron.

Aaron Boone's sacrifice fly in the third made it 4-0 before Houston started its comeback on Bagwell's leadoff homer in the fourth his fifth homer of the season.

After Greg Vaughn's RBI single put the Reds up 5-1 in the bottom of the inning, Houston batted around in the fifth and scored four runs to tie it.

Ricky Gutierrez walked and scored from first on a double by pinch-hitter Alex Diaz. Craig Biggio singled, Bell's sacrifice fly scored Diaz, and Caminiti tied it with a two-run homer.

Notes: Sean Casey, hitless Saturday for only the second time this season, was 2-for-3 Sunday. ... After homering three times against the Cubs on Thursday, Bagwell went 1-for-7 with an infield single before Sunday's home run. ... Carl Everett has been on base every game this season. Although his seven-game hitting streak was snapped Sunday, he reached on Harnisch's first error since 1996. Harnisch missed the bag while covering first base on a grounder by Everett. ... Reds reliever Stan Belinda, trying to come back from treatment for multiple sclerosis, did not make his scheduled start for Triple-A Indianapolis on Sunday. Belinda has been on the DL all season with a strained right shoulder.

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