|
|
|
|
 |
| MLB |
|
Scores Schedules Standings Statistics Transactions Injuries: AL | NL Players Weekly Lineup Message Board Minor Leagues MLB Stat Search Clubhouses |
| Sport Sections |
|
|
| |
Friday, Jul. 14 9:05pm ET
Rockies lose ninth straight | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
DENVER (AP) -- So much for sending up the white flag. Three days after trading ace left-hander Denny Neagle, the Cincinnati Reds are looking like a team still expecting to make a run at the postseason, and they're doing it at the expense of the Colorado Rockies. Sean Casey went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs and Pete Harnisch threw a five-hitter as the Reds beat the slumping Rockies 9-2 on Friday night. "We always hit well here," Reds manager Jack McKeon said after watching his team outscore Colorado 24-8 in the first two games of the three-game series. "Maybe this is the tonic we need." Coors Field has always been good to Casey, who missed the first three weeks of the season with a broken right thumb. He is 16-for-28 with five homers and 16 RBIs in Denver and seems to be emerging from a postinjury slump. "Sometimes those first few weeks were like spring training all over again," Casey said. "There's nothing you can do about that except keep battling. I said my season would start June 1 and I'd ride it all the way out to the end." Harnisch (2-5), two weeks removed from of the disabled list, pitched his 22nd career complete game -- Cincinnati's first in 89 games in 2000 -- to help send Colorado to its ninth straight defeat. "You don't get many chances to see a ninth inning," Harnisch said. "I might see the ninth maybe two or three times a year. It was going to come. Somebody was going to throw one sooner or later." The Rockies, seeking to get well at home after a miserable road trip before the All-Star break, has trailed for all 18 innings of the Cincinnati series and fell to 28-11 at Coors Field. "I think we're pressing," Rockies manager Buddy Bell said. "I don't think I've ever seen this many good hitters go bad at the same time." Harnisch held Colorado hitless until Jeffrey Hammonds singled in the fifth. He later scored on a grounder by pinch-hitter Angel Echevarria, but it was 5-1 at that point. "That's the hardest I've seen him throw, and I thought we were never going to get a hit off that guy," Jeff Cirillo said. "At Coors Field, you don't expect that." Larry Walker hit a solo homer off Harnisch in the eighth, and the Rockies loaded the bases in the ninth before Tom Goodwin struck out to end the game and preserving Harnisch's complete game. "Goodwin was his last hitter," McKeon said. "That's why we sent (pitching coach Don Gullett) out. Might as well put the pressure on him. 'You want to finish this thing? Get this guy out.'" Harnisch pitched efficiently while his offense roughed up Colorado starter Rolando Arrojo (5-7). The right-hander gave up one earned run with four walks and two strikeouts to improve to 5-1 in nine starts at Coors Field. "I felt good all night," Harnisch said. "It was nice to pitch with a lead. The guys got the lead and kept going. That is what you need to do in this park." Casey's two-run double gave the Reds a 5-0 lead in the fifth. He added a two-run homer off Scott Karl, and Harnisch capped the scoring with a run-scoring single for his fourth RBI of the season. The hit summed up Colorado's misery as the Rockies try to stop their slide before it's too late. "You look for something to get mad at and it's really not there," Todd Helton said. "Guys are busting their tails, but it's not working." Game notesKen Griffey Jr. went 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs. ... Cirillo went 0-for-4 and is 2-for-21 against Harnisch in his career. ... Reds 3B Chris Stynes has hit safely in all 17 starts this year and is 12-for-19 in his last four games. ... The Rockies drew boos from the home crowd when they intentionally walked Griffey in the fifth. ... Harnisch threw the 33rd complete game in six seasons at Coors Field. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Cincinnati Clubhouse Colorado Clubhouse RECAPS NY Mets 6 Boston 4
Cincinnati 9
| |||||