Aaron Harang(notes) had everything working. Against this lineup, he needed it.
The right-hander limited the NL’s highest-scoring lineup to a solo homer Wednesday night, and Brandon Phillips(notes) drove in three runs, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-1 victory that ended the Philadelphia Phillies’ winning streak at five games.
Harang (4-4) has alternated losses and wins all season. He was as sharp as he’s been all season, helping the Reds snap a four-game losing streak.
“I kept the ball down moved it around where I wanted to,” Harang said. “I was able to keep them off-balance. I was able to locate my fastball and throw my curveball for strikes early in the count.”
Philadelphia averages 5.7 runs per game, the best in the league, but managed only Raul Ibanez’s(notes) 14th homer during Harang’s seven innings. Jimmy Rollins(notes) and Chase Utley(notes) were a combined 0 for 8 at the top of the lineup, and Jayson Werth(notes) struck out three times against Harang.
“He made us look bad,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “We didn’t handle nothing about him. He carved up two or three of our hitters, he really carved ‘em up.”
Jamie Moyer(notes) (3-4) remained winless in four May starts. Ryan Hanigan(notes) hit a solo homer, and Phillips and Jay Bruce(notes) had run-scoring singles off the left-hander. Leadoff hitter Willy Taveras(notes) had a pair of singles, ending an 0-for-19 slump that was the worst of his career.
Phillips broke the game open with a two-run triple in the seventh off Chad Durbin(notes), his second triple in two games.
“Today was all about Aaron,” Phillips said. “He’s the best pitcher on this team.”
The Phillies opened their 10-game trip by sweeping a four-game series in Washington and winning their first in Cincinnati. They were batting .282 on the road, but couldn’t do much against the Reds’ top starter. Harang allowed four hits and a pair of walks while matching his season high with nine strikeouts.
“That was a great game he pitched, a great seven innings,” manager Dusty Baker said.
Philadelphia didn’t get a hit over the last five innings, with the last 10 batters going out in order.
The 46-year-old Moyer has played for seven teams, but hadn’t pitched in Cincinnati since May 4, 1991, when the Reds were defending World Series champions playing at Riverfront Stadium. His first appearance at Great American Ball Park was better than his recent outings, but wasn’t good enough to bust his May slump.
“Sometimes you’re on, sometimes you’re not,” Moyer said. “I did some things I wanted to try, but the results weren’t there. I threw strikes.”
Unfortunately, he threw a lot of pitches overall—105 in six innings.
“Even tonight, he got behind in the count,” Manuel said. “He didn’t throw first-pitch strikes a lot. When he’s going good, he’ll get through four or five innings pretty quick.”
Cincinnati scored a run in each of the first three innings off Moyer, who is 0-3 with a no-decision in May. He has given up 22 runs and 31 hits in 18 1-3 innings during the month. Hanigan’s first homer of the season was the seventh off Moyer in May.
In his two previous starts, Moyer was rocked for 14 runs in only 6 2-3 innings, pushing his ERA to 8.15. -yahoo.com
Although the Mets did manage to lose yet again for us which keeps us 1 game ahead of them in 1st place. While we finish our series tonight with the Red the Met will be traveling to Boston for a 3 game series there on Friday. And Atlanta who is 1.5 games back thanks to back to back wins against the Rockies have 1 more against the Rockies tonight and then stay home for a 3 game series against the Blue Jays starting on Friday as well. Mean while we will be traveling from Cinic to NY to play those darn Yanks on Friday. Interesting games coming up for all three clubs. Hopefully we can steal another win tonight and push that lead to 1.5 games ahead of those Mets.
