Jul 25, 2002 By Joe Kay Ap Sports Writer 4 min read

CINCINNATI – Brian Moehler was wiping his brow and scratching his head as he reached the dugout after making his first impression on the Cincinnati Reds. It wasn’t very good: one inning, four runs, one murmuring home crowd and one bench full of empathetic teammates.

“I told him, ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to score a lot of runs for you,”‘ catcher Kelly Stinnett reassured.

He was right. Brandon Larson hit a three-run homer and Todd Walker had a grand slam as the Reds rallied behind their newest pitcher for a 10-5 victory Wednesday over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Moehler (1-0), who drove down Interstate 75 from Detroit with his wife and two young children after the Reds traded for him on Tuesday, got rocked in his first inning, then saw what a contending team can do at its best.

“It’s like winning the lottery, I guess you could say,” said Moehler, who gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings. “You go from the bottom to the top. I’m glad to be here. It’s a different atmosphere.”

Not for the first 15 minutes.

Brian Giles hit an RBI double off the wall and Kevin Young hit a three-run homer in a 32-pitch first inning that left Moehler deflated. The debut drew comparisons with Ryan Dempster, who was acquired from Florida on July 11 and has gone 0-3 with a 12.00 ERA for Cincinnati.

“I’d heard about that,” Moehler said. “You need to get acclimated to your surroundings. He’s a good pitcher. He’s going to be fine.”

Unlike Dempster, Moehler wound up getting a win, courtesy of the Reds’ four-homer comeback.

Joe Beimel (1-5) struggled even worse, giving up three homers in the first three innings. Beimel hasn’t won since June 7, a span of seven starts, and is 1-4 overall in eight starts this season with a 4.85 ERA.

Larson hit a three-run homer in the first. Then, for the second game in a row, the Pirates’ liberal use of the intentional walk led to their downfall as the Reds scored five runs in the third on only two hits.

With Aaron Boone on second by a walk and a steal, Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon chose to intentionally walk Austin Kearns. After a double steal, McClendon had Beimel intentionally walk Brady Clark, a .196 hitter who had been walked intentionally only twice in the majors.

Beimel would have rather pitched to Clark with first base open.

“It’s a case where if I pitch to him, I’m going to make him hit my pitch,” Beimel said. “I won’t give him too much to hit and if I walk him, that’s fine. Lloyd felt we didn’t want to mess around with him.”

Walker took it personally.

“It puts you in the position where you’re in the on-deck circle knowing that they think you can’t hit this guy,” Walker said. “That was the most fired-up I’ve ever been in my life.”

He pumped his fist after his fly ball cleared the right-field wall for his second career grand slam and the sixth by Cincinnati this season. Two pitches later, Stinnett hit his first homer for an 8-4 lead.

Adam Dunn added his career-high 20th homer in the sixth off Mike Lincoln.

Pittsburgh also had intentional walks backfire in the Reds’ 7-2 win on Tuesday night. Ken Griffey Jr. was intentionally walked twice, and Kearns followed with a run-scoring hit both times.

The Pirates lead the NL in intentional walks with 61. In the last week, they’ve given up three homers after an intentional walk.

“You think I’m going to be shaken because I made a move that didn’t work?” McClendon said. “I’m going to do what I think is best.”

Moehler, acquired a few hours after Texas left-hander Kenny Rogers blocked a trade, headed for the mound in the first inning greeted by a banner that read: “Kenny Rogers who? We want Brian.”

Moehler, who had reconstructive shoulder surgery last year, left for a pinch-hitter in the fifth after throwing 95 pitches. Giles later hit a solo homer, his 28th, off Jose Rijo.

NOTES: Giles’ homer was his 139th with Pittsburgh, moving him past Bill Mazeroski into seventh place on the franchise list. … Pirates C Keith Osik snapped an 0-for-18 slide with a second-inning single. … Walker’s other career grand slam came off Dempster when he was with Florida on May 22. … The Reds’ record for grand slams in a season is seven. They’ve done it three times, most recently in 1987. … Boone stole a career-high three bases. The last Red to steal three in a game was current Pirates 2B Pokey Reese, who did it on Oct. 1, 1999 at Milwaukee. … Griffey, still not fully recovered from a pulled hamstring, got a precautionary day off.