Cincinnati, OH - Alfonso Soriano homered twice, drove in five runs and scored three, and the Chicago Cubs took advantage of an early exit by Reds’ starter Aaron Harang to beat Cincinnati, 8-1, in the second of three games at Great American Ball Park.
Harang (10-3) worked just one inning, allowing a two-run homer to Derrek Lee before leaving with lower back soreness. He was replaced by left-hander Mike Gosling at the start of the second.
It was a tough blow for the Reds, and for Harang, who was unbeaten since dropping a 5-3 decision to Cleveland on May 20th. He had also been perfect at Great American Ball Park since May 5, and held a 3-0 mark and a 2.45 ERA in his last seven home starts coming in.
Brandon Phillips drove in the lone run for Cincinnati, which had a a three- game winning streak halted.
Jason Kendall finished with two hits and two runs scored, and Cliff Floyd also knocked in a run for Chicago, which put the brakes on a two-game skid and pulled within 1 1/2 games of Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers dropped both games of their day-night doubleheader to St. Louis on Saturday.
Cubs starter Sean Marshall (5-4) allowed just one run on six hits, walked one and struck out three over six-plus innings to earn his first win in five starts.
It didn’t take the Cubs long to jump on Harang, as Ryan Theriot drew a one-out walk in the first and Lee followed by hammering a 2-1 pitch to left-center that just carried over the wall.
Gosling fared even worse in the second, allowing a one-out walk to Jacque Jones and a single to Kendall. Marshall moved both runners with a sacrifice bunt before Soriano turned on a fastball and crushed it well into the upper deck in left field, giving Chicago a 5-0 lead.
The Reds broke through in the fourth when Norris Hopper and Jeff Conine both singled, then advanced on a fielding error by Jones. Phillips’ groundout plated Hopper to cut it to 5-1, but Marshall escaped further damage when Adam Dunn grounded out and Jeff Keppinger lined out to end the inning.
Chicago tacked on another run in the fifth on a single by Soriano, an intentional walk to Lee and a double by Floyd that made it 6-1.
Soriano added a two-run homer in the ninth, while the Cubs loaded the bases against Ryan Dempster with no outs, but failed to score.
Game Notes
The Reds acquired infielder Jorge Cantu, outfielder Shaun Cumberland and cash from Tampa Bay on Saturday, in exchange for righthander Calvin Medlook, lefty Brian Shackelford and future considerations…Cantu will be optioned to Triple-A Louisville…The Cubs faced a right-handed starter for the 10th consecutive game…Keppinger extended his hitting streak to eight games…The attendance of 42,365 was the largest non-opening day crowd in the history of Great American Ball Park…It was Soriano’s second multi-homer game this season and the 17th of his career.
