Cueto (2-3) pitched six innings for his first win since April 3. The 22-year-old allowed three earned runs and six hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Cincinnati had a 5-1 lead through three innings without scoring an earned run off of Cubs starter Ryan Dempster (4-1).

After one-out infield singles by Ken Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips, Mike Fontenot booted Joey Votto's would-be double play grounder to second base for an error that loaded the bases. Dempster walked Edwin Encarnacion and forced in a run. Jeff Keppinger's two-out, two-run broken-bat single into shallow right-center field made it a 3-0 game.

With two outs in the third, Encarnacion grounded to third base and reached on Mark DeRosa's fielding error. Next batter Adam Dunn launched a 463-foot two-run home run high into the right field seats.

Cueto struck out three of his first four batters and had five Ks through two innings. It wasn't mistake-free pitching, however. With one out in the second, Geovany Soto was given a 1-1 fastball over the plate and crushed it into the left-field seats for a 430-foot solo homer.

There were two outs in the fifth when Cueto gave up Ryan Theriot's RBI double to the left-field corner and Derrek Lee's RBI single to left field to make it a two-run game.

Mike Lincoln worked a perfect seventh in relief for the Reds. David Weathers threw a scoreless eighth before closer Francisco Cordero got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his fifth save.