Aaron Harang had been one of baseball's hard-luck
stories coming into his start Sunday against the Marlins. In his eight losses,
the Reds right-hander had received an average of only two runs a game of
support.
Harang's support didn't get any better Sunday, but his
3.86 ERA took a major hit. He allowed eight runs, seven of them earned, in 5 1/3
innings as the Reds lost to the Marlins, 9-2, before 12,444 at Dolphin Stadium.
The earned runs were the most Harang had given up in a
game since Sept. 12, 2004, when Milwaukee managed seven off him. He now has
given up 105 hits this season, tops in the National League.
Harang and the Reds trailed only 2-0 until the fifth,
when Florida scored four times. Hanley Ramirez hit the first of his pair of
two-run home runs and Dan Uggla scored another two with a double.
Harang left after Ramirez hit his second two-run shot
with one out in the sixth.
The Reds' offense never got out of first gear against
Ryan Tucker, who was making his first Major League start, and several relievers.
Jerry Hairston opened the game with a double to right field against Tucker, but
the Reds would get only two more hits in the game.
One was by Harang, who drove in the club's first run
with a second-inning single to left, a shot that almost hit the running Adam
Dunn. Corey Patterson, who replaced Ken Griffey Jr. -- who was walked twice and
hit into a fielder's choice in his quest for his 600th home run -- hit a homer
in the eighth estimated at 364 feet.
The teams wrap up the four-game series Monday night.
