Reds sweep obliqued Cards

Reds sweep obliqued Cards
Cincy pulls even with St. Louis atop NL Central.

Published Thursday, June 8, 2006

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Cincinnati Reds kicked the St. Louis Cardinals when they were down, sweeping a team missing Albert Pujols.

Rich Aurilia matched career highs with four hits and five RBI last night, leading the Reds to a 7-4 victory that pulled them into a tie for first place with the Cardinals in the National League Central.

"Honestly, we need to pounce on them no matter who they’ve got out there, whether they had him or brought Musial back or whoever," said Aurilia, whose three-run homer off Tyler Johnson in the sixth made it 7-0. "Does it hurt their team having him out? Of course it does, but we played well and we beat some pretty good pitching."

Scott Hatteberg had two hits, two walks and two RBI to help the Reds stretch their winning streak to a season-best seven games. They completed a three-game sweep with Ken Griffey Jr. (left quad) and Edwin Encarnacion (left ankle) out with minor injuries. They also swept a three-game series in Houston during a 7-2 trip.

"I think a lot of people will probably pick up the paper tomorrow and read it and go ‘Who the hell is that? What’s going on?’ " Aurilia said. "We’ve played really well the last week."

The Cardinals were impressed.

"They’ve always had hitters; all they needed is pitching," St. Louis’ John Rodriguez said. "And now they’ve got it."

Pujols was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained oblique muscle on his right side. There is still no definite return date for last year’s NL MVP, who was leading the major leagues in home runs (25) and RBI (65) this season.

Aaron Harang (7-4) became the first visiting pitcher to win twice at new Busch Stadium, dominating for five innings before tiring. Harang threw seven shutout innings in a 1-0 victory on April 14, and he had thrown 12 consecutive scoreless innings in St. Louis before giving up three runs in his final inning.

In 52/3 innings, Harang allowed eight hits with three strikeouts and a walk to win his second straight start.

The Cardinals wrapped up a 3-6 homestand and are 1-3 since Pujols went on the DL. They snapped a 15-inning scoreless slump, their longest since June 2004, in the sixth on Scott Rolen’s two-run double and Jim Edmonds’ RBI single.

"We didn’t play very well, and we ran into a hot team," Edmonds said. "Everything they hit was hard. They could do no wrong."

Edmonds added his sixth homer, his first since May 12, in the eighth off David Weathers.

Singles by David Eckstein and Rolen in the first gave the Cardinals, who were alone in first place for 23 games, their first multihit inning in 23 innings.

Sidney Ponson (4-1) lost for the first time in nine starts with the Cardinals, who signed him as a free agent in the off-season. In 51/3 innings he gave up five runs and eight hits.