CHICAGO – Jon Lieber looked as if he were going to go the distance again.

The Cubs right-hander took a 3-1 lead into the ninth against the Reds on Thursday, bidding for his second consecutive complete game. But he left after Sean Casey and Adam Dunn opened the inning with singles.

"Individual stats don't matter," Lieber said. "We had the other team down and we were just unable to do it."

Reggie Taylor lined a tying triple with two outs in the ninth, then Russell Branyan hit a two-run single in the 10th that gave Cincinnati a 5-4 victory.

The Reds won their third in a row and sent Chicago to its third straight loss. Sammy Sosa hit his major league-leading 27th homer for the Cubs.

"He is tough. When he is on, he is tough and I thought he was on and I thought we battled pretty good, Reds manager Bob Boone said. "We had a bunch of good at-bats against him and had guys there. He just is really tough."

But Cubs hitters did not give Lieber a lot of insurance.

"We only had two hits when he was in there," manager Don Baylor said. "He was pitching around that all day."

Taylor's two-run triple came on an 0-2 pitch from Antonio Alfonseca and made it 3-all.

"This is probably the biggest confidence booster in the world right now," Taylor said. "Alfonseca is one of the best closers in baseball. At 0-2, I'm just trying to battle for dear life."

In the 10th, pinch-hitter Jason LaRue drew a leadoff walk from Kyle Farnsworth (2-1) and moved up on Todd Walker's sacrifice. With two outs, Casey was intentionally walked and Dunn drew a walk that loaded the bases. Branyan followed with his single to right.

Alfonseca relieved with two on a none out in the ninth and retired the first two batters. After fouling off two pitches, Taylor followed with a drive beyond Sosa's reach in right-center that rolled to the ivy.

Sosa homered off reliever Scott Sullivan in eighth to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. Sosa hit an RBI single in the third after consecutive walks to Corey Patterson and Chris Stynes. Walks to Fred McGriff and Moises Alou made it 2-0.

Casey led off the Cincinnati fourth with a double and Dunn doubled off the ivy in left-center.

Cincinnati starter Joey Hamilton pitched seven innings, just giving up two hits and two runs. He tied a season-high by walking six, then retired his last nine batters in a row.

Todd Hundley hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th before Danny Graves (3-1) hung on to win.

Notes:

Aaron Boone, normally the Reds' third baseman, made his first career start at shortstop in place of Barry Larkin. Larkin left Wednesday's game in the fifth inning because of neck and shoulder spasms. … The Cubs placed RHP Jason Bere on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a severely bruised right knee and recalled RHP Francis Beltran from Double-A West Tenn. Bere lost his eighth straight decision Wednesday. … The Cubs finished their first half at home with a 16-23 record. … Hundley apologized after the game for making an obscene gesture toward fans who were heckling him. The Associated Press