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Harang continues to struggle as Reds lose

Big right-hander has not won in his last 10 starts; he’s 0-6 with a 5.08 ERA during that time.

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By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 12:50 AM Sunday, July 19, 2009

It appears the only way Aaron Harang is going to get another win is to order it on eBay and pay for shipping and handling.

The Milwaukee Brewers handled Harang and the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, July 18, by a 5-1 count in Great American Ball Park, and Harang is winless over his last 10 starts.

Over that period, he is 0-6 with a 5.08 ERA and there isn’t a pitching coach in the world who would say, “Well, that ain’t too bad.”

It's bad.

Harang hasn’t won since May 25, the night his start against Houston was interrupted by rain and he sat out a two-hour delay, then talked his way back into the game to get the final out he needed to qualify for a victory.

His next start was in Milwaukee — 4 2/3 innings, eight runs, 12 hits. And several scouts have said he is not the same, that his slider has flattened, his velocity is down and he relying more on his curve ball.

It started so well for the 6-foot-7, 270-pound right-hander — nine straight outs. Then came four runs in the fourth, all the Brewers needed to drop Harang to 5-10 on the season.

In seven innings he gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits, recording the 1,000th strikeout of his Reds career in the process.

“He had that one bad inning, got some balls over the plate,” said manager Dusty Baker, speaking of a four-run fourth inning.

It’s said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but an old dog doesn’t forget the tricks he knows. And in the case of the Reds, the trick is leaving runners strewn all over the basepaths.

They put the first batter on base in four of the first six innings and only one scored, that one coaxed along by an error.

They put their first two of the game on base when Willy Taveras singled on the first pitch and Jerry Hairston Jr. walked on the 11th pitch.

Joey Votto moved the runners up a base on a grounder to second, then Milwaukee starter Manny Parra struck out Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion, ending E.E.’s streak of getting on base eight straight times.

“We had him on the ropes right there and didn’t come away with anything,” said Baker. “If we get a sacrifice fly or a hit or anything, it might be a different ball game.

“We just keep leaving them out there,” Baker added. “That’s been the story for a long time, same thing, a broken record.”

Meanwhile, Harang retired the first nine Brewers before leadoff hitter Craig Counsell ended the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout with one swing — a home run into the right field seats, the 17th home run given up by Harang and the 38th home run of Counsell’s 12 years in the majors.

That started a flood of four hits and an error that led to an eventual 4-0 lead.

Harang called it a stretch of misfortune.

“Some tough luck there in the fourth,” he said. “I was able to buckle down and get back on a roll, but that inning ended up hurting us. I left a pitch a little up to Counsell and Mike Cameron then doubled and he is the kind of hitter who likes to get his arm extended and he went down and got the pitch.

“Cameron hit it hard and it wasn’t the right pitch to hit at that time,” Harang added.

Prince Fielder produced the first run by hitting a ball off Harang’s glove that was ruled an error and Harang said, “It caught me on the heel of my glove and I wasn’t able to make the play. If I make that play and turn a double play, Cameron scores and it ends up 2-1 instead of 5-1.”

The Reds scored in the fifth when Adam Rosales led with a double, moved to third on Harang’s bunt and scored on third baseman Casey McGeehee’s throwing error on the bunt.

Former Cincinnati relief pitcher Todd Coffey pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts, sat for an hour an 59 minutes of a rain delay, then came back out to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth with a strikeout.