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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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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 notes
Ken 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.
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Baseball Scoreboard
Cincinnati Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
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