BRADENTON, Fla. - Todd Ritchie won 15 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999. Now he's just trying to make the team as their fifth starter.

Ritchie didn't help his cause Monday when he gave up three runs - one earned - and four hits in two innings of the Pirates' 10-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

Rob Stratton, a non-roster outfielder with 180 homers in nine minor league seasons, hit two homers and drove in four runs to lead a Cincinnati split squad.

After missing most of the past two seasons because of rotator cuff surgery, Ritchie knows he has to improve if he's going to beat out Ryan Vogelsong and Dave Williams for the No. 5 spot in the Pirates' rotation.

"It will be a lot easier for those guys if I keep doing that," said Ritchie, who committed two errors on the same play in the first inning.

Ritchie, the Pirates opening-day starter in 2001, doesn't think his early success with the Pirates gives him an advantage over other pitchers.

"It wouldn't be fair to the other guys putting up better numbers," he said. "The main thing is to show I'm healthy and have good arm strength."

Stratton went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer to left-center in the fifth inning and a solo shot down the left-field line in the ninth.

Paul Wilson, the Reds' probable opening day starter, gave up one run and two hits in three innings. Four relievers finished off the four-hitter.

Cincinnati second baseman Luis Lopez went 3-for-5 with two RBI. Catcher Dane Sardinha went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.

Craig Wilson hit a solo homer off Wilson in the second, but the Pirates didn't get another hit until the ninth. Jon Nunnally doubled and scored on Nate McLouth's RBI single.