The Associated Press

MIAMI – The Cincinnati Reds are getting younger, not better.

Monday, July 23, 2001

MIAMI – The Cincinnati Reds are getting younger, not better.

Florida had 15 hits off an inexperienced Reds pitching staff Sunday as the Marlins beat Cincinnati 11-7.

Reds rookie Chris Reitsma gave up seven runs – five earned – and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings as Cincinnati lost for the 15th time in 19 games.

The game was delayed by rain for 43 minutes in the first inning.

”The rain delay hurt me,” said Reitsma, who fell to 4-10. ”I didn’t feel the same afterwards. I had to warm up all over again, but that’s no excuse.”

Charles Johnson, Dave Berg, Derrek Lee and Eric Owens each had two RBIs for Florida, 8-3 since the All-Star break. Luis Castillo and Mike Lowell had three hits apiece.

”(Reitsma) didn’t put the ball where he wanted to,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. ”His arm speed was slow on the changeup.”

A.J. Burnett (8-5) allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings, winning his third straight start. He struck out a season-high eight.

Cincinnati had 13 hits but made three errors and two wild pitches, leading to three unearned runs, and had a passed ball.

”We haven’t gotten too many breaks this year,” said Sean Casey, who had two hits. ”Our won-loss record shows it.”

Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, who made his major league debut Friday, was 2-for-5 with a single, double and three strike outs. But the rookie dropped Berg’s routine fly ball in the fifth. Dunn did make a nice diving catch in the eighth, robbing Charles Johnson of a hit.

”I feel real comfortable out there,” he said. ”I definitely have got to make some adjustments. On the error, I took it for granted that I was going to catch it. The other one, I wasn’t going to let it drop.”

Dunn added an RBI double in the fifth and scored two runs.

Reds reliever Frankie Rodriguez tied a record when he struck out four in the seventh inning. Johnson, Berg and Ryan Thompson struck out, but Thompson reached on a wild pitch. After two hits and a wild pitch, Lowell fanned.

Rodriguez became the fourth Reds pitcher to accomplish the feat, following Joe Nuxhall (Aug. 11, 1959), Mario Soto (May 17, 1984) and Tim Birtsas (June 4, 1990).

Aaron Boone’s two-run homer put the Reds ahead in the second, but Florida took a 4-2 lead in the bottom half on Johnson’s two-run double, Berg’s RBI double and Castillo’s run-scoring single.

Florida made it 7-2 in the third on run-scoring singles by Lee and Berg around John Mabry’s RBI groundout.

Dunn’s RBI double and a run-scoring error by right fielder Eric Owens closed the gap in the fifth, but Lowell’s RBI single and Lee’s sacrifice fly gave Florida a 9-4 lead in the sixth, which included a wild pitch by Rodriguez and a passed ball by Jason LaRue.

Owens had a two-run double in the seventh.

D.T. Cromer hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Braden Looper.

Aaron Boone, Cincinnati’s third baseman, committed his 16th error of the season in the second inning.

… The Marlins have had six home games delayed by rain. In all, there have been seven rain delays for a total of 6:28. … Plate umpire Andy Fletcher was shaken up after being struck in the top of the mask on a pitch by Rodriguez in the sixth. Fletcher remained behind the plate after being checked out by the medical staff. … The Marlins are now 12-0-3 in home series games since being swept by Philadelphia to open the season.