Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Freddy Sanchez loses control of a ball thrown by catcher Ryan Doumit, allowing the Reds' Jeff Conine to reach second base safely in the fourth inning.

By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Finally, the starting pitcher could breathe.

Paul Maholm was handed an early three-run lead, saw signs that his offense might offer even more support and, to boot, was still feeling the high of the finest performance of his career a few days earlier.

Rare air, indeed.

But, before Maholm could exhale, the Cincinnati Reds knocked the wind out of him and the Pirates, 9-5, yesterday before 18,409 at PNC Park.

"That's the bad part," Maholm would say later. "Your goal is to keep the team in the game, and we get ahead like that ... I let the game get away early. I let the team down."

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Starter Paul Maholm gave up six runs and seven hits in four innings yesterday against the Reds at PNC Park. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Pirates (LHP Zach Duke 1-2, 6.92) vs. Chicago Cubs (LHP Rich Hill 3-1, 1.57), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park. Radio: WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup: The Pirates vs. Hill in the first three innings. Opponents are batting .108 against Hill in those innings - 4 for 37 - with no extra-base hits. Of note: Chicago first baseman Derrek Lee, owner of the National League's second-best average at .391, has reached base in all 23 games he has played. But get this, too: He has only one home run. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Paulino's focus still behind plate Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic Smizik: Pirates' bats better start waking up

His line included six runs, seven hits and two walks in four innings, a far cry from his three-hit shutout of the Houston Astros on Tuesday.

Most painful, he was handed two three-run leads, squandered each with Cincinnati's next at-bat and exited with the Reds ahead, 6-4.

"For the first couple of innings, he looked very much like the pitcher we saw Tuesday," manager Jim Tracy said. "But he started getting up in the strike zone, was getting into deep counts, giving up bases on balls ... that's his formula to get beaten."

At the same time, Maholm gave up three hits on his first offering. The Pirates have been stressing to Maholm to attack the bat, emphasizing ground balls over strikeouts, and it is possible that he attacked a bit too much.

"I might have been overly aggressive or overthrowing," Maholm said. "I probably was trying to get out of jams with one pitch."

Another problem: Too many fastballs.

"My breaking ball wasn't good and, when I got behind, I had to throw fastballs. That's a disaster plan."

The starting pitchers are due a few mulligans, given that they are almost singularly responsible for keeping the Pirates afloat despite the least productive offense in Major League Baseball.

Still, maybe because of that, this one stung.

The hitters pounced on Cincinnati's Aaron Harang, the National League's reigning strikeout king, for four early runs: In the second, Jose Bautista's ground-rule double to left brought one run, Maholm's slicing single two more. In the third, Jason Bay and Ryan Doumit slugged back-to-back doubles off the Clemente Wall for another.

But the Reds' first four hitters in the fourth reached and scored, and they would wind up with five runs.

It started not so much with Jeff Conine's leadoff single, but with something that happened during the next at-bat. Maholm threw a pitch Doumit could not handle, and the ball skipped away a few feet. Doumit grabbed it in good time and, seeing Conine sprinting for the extra base, made a strong, accurate throw to second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

But Conine slid right into Sanchez's tag, and the ball popped loose.

"Just a bang-bang play," Sanchez said. "He came in hard."

Coincidence or not, the unraveling began. Alex Gonzalez and Adam Dunn walked to load the bases, and Edwin Encarnacion cleared them by leveling a 1-0 hanging slider to the North Side Notch for a triple.

After another out, Harang lashed a single to center, and Brandon Phillips doubled for two more runs.

From there, coincidence or not, the Pirates' hitting all but ceased.

Harang, like Matt Belisle the previous night, went into autopilot mode and allowed three hits the rest of the way. He might have matched Belisle's complete game, too, but for Doumit's home run to lead off the ninth. Cincinnati manager Jerry Narron summoned David Weathers for the final three outs.

Harang improved to 4-0, tied for best in the league, and struck out nine.

"You get a guy who's a workhorse like that, and you give him a second wind -- which is exactly what we did -- he knuckles down," Tracy said.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit went 4 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs yesterday against The Reds. Click photo for larger image.

The Reds added three runs off reliever Shawn Chacon, all of that coming on home runs by Dunn in the fifth and Gonzalez in the seventh.

The glaring bright spot for the Pirates was Doumit going 4 for 4, making him the first on the team to achieve four hits in a game this season.

He had a broken-bat single up the middle, a sharp single to center, that double off the wall and, to cap it off in the ninth, he worked the count full before sending Harang's 94-mph fastball over the seating section in right field, just shy of rolling into the Allegheny River.

Since being recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis, Doumit is 6 for 11 at the plate, half of those hits going for extra bases. And this after he handled International League pitching at a .415 clip over 16 games.

"I'm seeing the ball really well, and my swing is right where I need it to be," Doumit said. "And I'm getting a chance to get in there and play."

Surely, whether at catcher or right field or somewhere, Tracy will find a way to play him tonight against the Chicago Cubs, right?

"We look daily to see what makes sense for him," Tracy replied to a question on that topic. "I think it goes without saying that he's a good right-handed hitter but that he's a much better left-handed hitter. When there are situations where we can continue to utilize him, we will do so."

So, is he playing the next game?

"I won't answer that question today," Tracy said. "I don't do things like that. I don't even know who's pitching for the Cubs tomorrow."

Chicago's first two pitchers in the series will be left-handers Rich Hill and Ted Lilly.

Asked if he expects to keep playing, Doumit replied, simply, "It's up to the skipper."