Tim Belcher pitched a dandy three-hit shut-out tonight as Cincinnati won  their second straight 5-0.  Pittsburgh Lefty Randy Tomlin was hit early and  often by the heavily right-unbalanced Reds line-up, which managed some recently rare power with their bats.  Belcher (1-1) was solid throughout and in fact seemed to get stronger as the game progressed.  Early on he had several three-ball counts, but even those were few and far between later on as he allowed only one base-on-balls while striking out nine.  In a post game interview he said his change-up was working for him--I should say so:  all nine of his strikeouts were apparently on  breaking balls.  Tomlin (0-1), on the other hand was in trouble early, giving up a second-pitch double to lead-off batter Bip Roberts.  Bobby Kelly followed with a single and  Barry Larkin scored Roberts with a sharp single to right.  The big guys (Mitchell, Sabo, Milligan) were unable to get anything after that--in fact they all struck out--but Kelly managed a score anyway due to a double-steal and a Tomlin wild pitch.  In fact, it appeared that Tomlin was going to recover nicely from his shaky start-- he retired 9 of the next 11 batters to get to the fourth behind only 2-0.  Randy Milligan, though, had different ideas as his line-shot was poorly played by Orlando Merced and turned into a triple.  Milligan would  later score on Reggie Sanders' sacrifice fly, giving Cinci the 3-0 lead  after 4.  The fifth inning spelled loss for Tomlin when Roberts led off with his second double of the game, and one batter later Larkin smacked a double down the  left field line, chasing Tomlin.  Barry later would score the final run on Tom Prince's two-base passed ball.    The Pirates managed their only threat of the day in the bottom half of the fifth when Merced and Kevin Young hit back-to-back singles (the second  being of the "bunt" variety), but Carlos Garcia struck out, Prince fit a  foul fly, and pinch-hitter Lonnie Smith "K'd" to end any Pittsburgh hope.  Pittsburgh pitchers backed Tomlin up well, though:  relievers Blas Minor, Moeller (sp?), and Nagel gave up only two hits in their four-plus innings work.  Barry Larkin left the game in the seventh when the grounder he (mis)played  bruised his right thumb.  He was taken to the hospital for "precautionary X-rays".  Let's hope he's OK.  Cincinnati is now 4-9, still the worst record in the majors, but with the two wins they may be looking at  moving out of the cellar! Pittsburgh is now 7-6.  *********REDS FANS*************************** If you would like to receive this report on a  semi-daily basis (as often as I write it),  send me your e-mail address and I'll put you  on the list.  If someone has a Reds mailing  list, please forward it to me and I'll put everyone on the list!! *********************************************   CINCINNATI REDS 			AB	R	H		K	BB	LO -----------------------------------------------|--------------------------- Roberts 2b		4	2	2		1	0	1 Kelly cf		4	1	1		0	0	0 Larkin ss		3	1	3		0	0	0   Branson ss		0	0	0  		0	0	0 Mitchell lf		4	0	1		1	0	0	   Hernandez lf		0	0	0		0	0	0 Sabo 3b			4	0	0		1	0	1 Milligan 1b		4	1	1		2	0	1 Sanders rf		3	0	0		2	0	0 Oliver c		4	0	2		2	0	0 Belcher p		4	0	0		2	0	1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals			34	5	10		11	0	4   3b Milligan (off Tomlin, leading off fourth, scored) 2b Roberts (off Tomlin, leading off first, scored)    Roberts (off Tomlin, leading off fifth, scored)    Larkin  (off Tomlin, in fifth, one out, runner on second, RBI, scored) SF Sanders RBI Larkin 2, Sanders SB Kelly, Larkin GDP Sabo    PITTSBURGH PIRATES 			AB	R	H		K	BB	LO -----------------------------------------------|--------------------------- Martin lf		4	0	0		0	0	1 Bell ss 		4	0	0		1	0	0 Van Slyke cf		4	0	0		0	0	0 King 3b			3	0	0		2	1	0 Merced rf		3	0	1		1	0	0 Young 1b		2	0	1		1	0	0 Garcia 2b		3	0	0		2	0	1 Prince c		3	0	1		0	0	0 Tomlin p		1	0	0		0	0	0   Minor p		0	0	0		0	0	0   Smith ph 		1	0	0		1	0	2   Moeller p		0	0	0 		0	0	0   Waynor ph		1	0	0		1	0	0   Nagel p		0	0	0		0	0	0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 			29	0	3		9	1	4   GDP Merced  --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cincinnati	2  0  0    1  2  0    0  0  0   -----  5  11  1 Pittsburgh	0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0   -----  0  3   0    Pitching  			IP	R	ER	H	K	BB Cincinnati	  Belcher (W 1-1)		9	0	0	3	9	1  CG (1), SO (1)  $$$LINE OF THE DAY!!!$$$  E- Larkin  Pittsburgh  Tomlin (L 0-1)		4 1/3	5	5	9	6	0 Minor			2/3	0	0	1	0	0 Moeller			2	0	0	0	3	0 Nagel 			1	0	0	1	2	0  WP- Tomlin PB- Prince   Umps Rippley/Hallion/Quick/Crawford  Att-9,077 T-2:14   Coming up: The Reds play two more in Pitts, then go to Chicago for a weekend series. The weather doesn't look good, though-- don't be surprised if one or more games get rained out.  Tomorrow, 7:35, Jose Rijo vs. Steve Cook, then Smiley vs. Wakefield on Thursday.