Special kids get chance to play
Benefit held for crash victim
WSU vs. Milwaukee
cardinals 8, reds 5
Red-hot Pujols, ex-Red Lopez homer; Harang loses No. 17
Glaus also hits 2-run shot, and Reds pitching staff has now given up 199 roundtrippers.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
ST. LOUIS — As Adam Dunn once said facetiously after leading the National League in striking out, "It's nice to lead the league in something."
He didn't mean it.
Aaron Harang leads the league in something, too, but he won't say it's nice to lead the league in something when the category is most defeats.
Harang gave up two home runs Saturday, Sept. 27, at Busch Stadium while absorbing his 17th loss, 8-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Oh, yeah. In addition to tying San Francisco's Barry Zito and Detroit's Justin Verlander for most losses in the majors, Harang gave up 35 home runs this season and the only reason he didn't lead in homers is because Houston's Brandon Backe also gave up two Saturday to finish with 36.
Harang (6-17) won 16 games in each of the previous two seasons and gave up 28 home runs both years.
Home runs by Troy Glaus and Felipe Lopez helped the Cardinals build a 5-0 lead, and Harang was finished after five, trailing 6-2.
Ryan Ludwick singled to open the second and Glaus lobbed his 26th home run into the Reds bullpen in left-center field for a 2-0 Cardinals lead.
Lopez, the former Cincinnati shortstop, connected with two outs in the third for his sixth homer to make it 3-0.
Harang retired the first two in the fifth before shortstop Jeff Keppinger misplayed Aaron Kennedy's grounder for an error. Three straight hits followed for two unearned runs and a 5-0 lead.
The Reds scored twice off St. Louis starter Todd Wellemeyer in the fifth on Jerry Hairston Jr.'s run-scoring single and Keppinger's sacrifice fly.
The final run of the year off Harang came in the fifth on a walk and two two-out singles by Ludwick and Glaus.
Corey Patterson's leadoff double in the seventh and Paul Bako's single made it 6-3 and ended Wellemeyer's night.
The Reds received their daily dose of Albert Pujols in the seventh when he homered off Jon Adkins. Pujols' 37th home run was the 199th hit off Reds pitchers this season.
And, yes, the Reds have given up the most home runs in the National League.
Hairston made the game seem tighter with a two-out two-run homer in the ninth.
