CINCINNATI – Jay Payton matched his career high with four hits Tuesday night, leading the Colorado Rockies to a 5-3 victory in the Cincinnati Reds’ first game under interim manager Dave Miley.

Darren Oliver (9-6) gave up four hits and three runs in six-plus innings, improving to 6-1 in his last eight starts. He also had a pair of hits, including an RBI single.

Miley arrived from Triple-A one day after the Reds’ front office purge. His first game as a big-league manager was ugly – the Reds tied their season high with four errors.

Shortstop Ray Olmedo had three throwing errors. The Reds lead the majors with 104 errors in 107 games.

Cincinnati also has the NL’s worst pitching staff, another shortcoming that got manager Bob Boone, two of his coaches and general manager Jim Bowden fired on Monday.

Starter Jimmy Haynes gave up 10 hits and four runs in only 4 1-3 innings. Haynes, who lost the inaugural game at Great American Ball Park, is the first Reds pitcher to start 2-11 since Sammy Ellis in 1966.

Haynes also had one of the Reds’ more embarrassing moments. He hit a grounder through the hole at second in the third inning, but right fielder Rene Reyes charged and threw him out at first.

Adam Bernero took over for Oliver in the seventh and gave up Jason LaRue’s sacrifice fly and Barry Larkin’s pinch RBI double that cut it to 5-3. Justin Speier got the last two outs for his sixth save in seven chances.

Payton had three of his four singles off Haynes, leaving him 8-for-8 career off the right-hander. He singled to open the second, when Oliver’s two-out single to center made it 1-0.

Payton also led off the fourth with a single, and Reyes followed with a bunt. Catcher Jason LaRue fielded it and, while still on his knees, threw wildly into right field, allowing Payton to score. Charles Johnson’s double made it 3-0.

Reds right fielder Jose Guillen, who has boxed up some of his belongings in the clubhouse in hopes he’ll be traded, committed the worst gaffe in the fifth. Ronnie Belliard led off with a single, and Guillen unaccountably stood in place – the ball resting at his feet – after he failed to come up with it cleanly on his first swipe.

Belliard decided to try for second, and Guillen threw to shortstop Ray Olmedo, whose relay hit Belliard for another error that sent him to third. Preston Wilson singled for his NL-leading 102nd RBI.

Finally, right-hander Ryan Wagner – the Reds’ top draft pick in the June amateur draft – relieved with the bases loaded in the seventh and threw a wild pitch.

Notes: OF Larry Walker was out of the Rockies’ lineup for a second consecutive game because of a sore hamstring. … LHP Denny Neagle saw Reds orthopedist Dr. Timothy Kremchek for a second opinion. Neagle has been given the option of season-ending surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, or trying to rehabilitate it. … Belliard stole two bases for the first time in his career. … It was the sixth four-hit game of Payton’s career, his second this season. … Rockies starters have driven in a run in each of their last three games. … Olmedo’s three errors were the most by a Red since SS Pokey Reese had four in the 1998 season opener.

AP-ES-07-29-03 2202EDT