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CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A hard-to-describe feeling comes over Cole Hamels every time he faces the Cincinnati Reds, especially in their hitter-friendly ballpark.Paul Krause Vikings Jersey . The left-hander just feels good from the first pitch to the on-field high-fives at the end. Hamels pitched into the eighth inning as he stayed unbeaten in his career against Cincinnati, and Jimmy Rollins moved closer to the Phillies hit record with a solo homer, leading Philadelphia to an 8-0 victory Friday night. The Phillies ended their longest losing streak of the season at six games. Cincinnati dropped its third straight. Hamels (2-3) improved to 10-0 in 13 career appearances against the Reds, holding them to three runs or less each time. The Phillies have won all of his 13 starts against Cincinnati, including his five-hit shutout during the 2010 playoffs. Hamels made his big league debut at Great American Ball Park in 2006 with five shutout innings, and he remembers that feeling every time he returns. "Its a great memory and its everlasting," said Hamels, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in 7 2-3 innings, throwing 125 pitches. "Thats what I take from it: This is it, this is what I worked for since I was a little kid. I take it out there year after year." The Phillies piled up 11 hits with eight players getting at least one. "A lot of guys contributed," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "That will go a long way going into tomorrow with momentum with a lot of guys." Rollins hit his seventh homer off Johnny Cueto (5-5), who lasted only five innings for his shortest start of the season. The solo homer left Rollins six hits shy of the club record. Rollins has 2,228 hits with the Phillies, trailing only Hall of Famer Mike Schmidts mark of 2,234. Domonic Brown had a two-run double and a sacrifice fly, and John Mayberry Jr. singled home a run off Cueto, who matched his season high by giving up six hits. Cuetos ERA jumped from a league-leading 1.68 to 1.97. "Thats what good ballclubs do," Brown said. "They do things like that. They pick each other up. I think were growing every day." Cincinnatis offence remained in a deep slump. The Reds lost to the Giants 6-1 on Thursday, with the last 19 batters going down in order. The streak reached 25 in a row before Zack Cozart singled in the third inning. Their scoreless streak is at 17 innings and counting. Ryan Ludwick had a chance to break the streak, but was thrown out at home in the seventh inning as he tried to score from third base on a ball that bounced away from Carlos Ruiz. The catcher recovered quickly and threw to Hamels, who tagged the sliding Ludwick. "An unbelievable play," Sandberg said. "Textbook. Its a fundamental play, but you dont practice it every day." Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth to get in some work. His next save will make him the 26th pitcher to reach 300, leaving him tied on the career list with Bruce Sutter and Jason Isringhausen. The closer for the Red Sox and Phillies was the fastest to his 200th save, getting it in his 359th game. If he gets No. 300 in his next appearance, he will tie Trevor Hoffman (552 games) for second-fastest. Mariano Rivera got No. 300 in his 537th game. Chase Utley had three hits and a sacrifice fly for the Phillies. He was hit by a pitch and was picked off first base by Cueto, who needed 92 pitches to make it through five innings. Cueto uncharacteristically hit two batters in the same inning and gave up his first homer in five starts. NOTES: Roberto Hernandez (2-3) starts for the Phillies on Saturday against Alfredo Simon (7-3). Hernandez is trying for his first win since May 4. ... The Phillies promoted INF Ronny Cedeno, who batted .286 with a homer and 20 RBIs for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. LHP Cesar Jimenez was designated for assignment to the minors. ... Cincinnatis Brayan Pena was hitless in four at-bats, extending his slump to a career-worst 0 for 17. ... RHP Mat Latos will make one more rehab start before the Reds consider activating him. His last start for Triple-A Louisville was stopped after 67 pitches because he had a calf cramp. Latos wanted to be activated rather than make one more appearance in the minors, but the Reds want him to get to 100 pitches before he goes back into the rotation. Anthony Barr Vikings Jersey . And he thinks its "irresponsible" for the Buffalo Sabres to suggest otherwise. The NHLs new sheriff reacted strongly to complaints from the Sabres on Monday after he elected not to suspend Bruins forward Milan Lucic for his collision with Buffalos Ryan Miller. Tom Johnson Authentic Jersey . Justin Dowling, Travis Morin and Francis Wathier also scored for the Stars (22-10-5), who bypassed Abbotsford for top spot in the West Division, and Mike Hedden tacked on two assists. Defenceman John Ramage was a team-worst minus-4 for the Heat (23-13-2), who dropped their fourth game in a row. OAKLAND, Calif. -- Chris Volstad helped the Florida Marlins end a miserable month on an upswing. Volstad allowed one unearned run in seven innings and John Buck hit a two-run double to help the Florida Marlins cap June by beating the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Thursday for their first back-to-back wins in more than a month. "It was a rough one," Volstad said. "Hopefully this is a step forward and we can keep building off of this and go into Texas and keep playing the way we played these last two games." The Marlins had won just three of their first 26 games in June before the strong starts by Ricky Nolasco and Volstad (4-7) gave them their first consecutive victories and first series win since sweeping the Giants across the bay in San Francisco on May 24-26. Nothing went right for the Marlins in between their two trips to the Bay Area as they fell from second place to last, fired hitting coach John Mallee, had manager Edwin Rodriguez resign and had lost 14 straight losses in one-run games before this victory. That turned around for Jack McKeons team during the three games against the offensively challenged Athletics, who did not score an earned run off a Florida starter all series. "Theres a little momentum," McKeon said. "They have a good feeling about themselves. All we need to do is win three or four in a row and who knows, maybe it will snowball." Oakland traded its longest tenured player before the game, dealing second baseman Mark Ellis to Colorado for two minor leaguers. Ellis had been the only player on the 25-man roster remaining from Oaklands division-winning teams last decade, but general manager Billy Beane felt he was expendable because of the emergence of rookie Jemile Weeks. "It was a difficult day for everybody," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Hes a guy everybody respects. Im glad Billy sent him to a team who might be playing for something. It would have been hard getting him at-bats here. Billy wasnt necessarily looking for the best deal. He was looking for a good landing spot for Mark." Volstad allowed seven hits and an unearned run after an error by third baseman Jose Lopez in the seventh inning to win his second straight start after a career-long six-game losing streak. Coco Crisp added a solo homer off Edward&nbbsp;Mujica in the eighth inning and Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run shot off Leo Nunez in the ninth to give the As their first multihomer game since May 24 against Anaheim. Josh Robinson Jersey. Nunez recovered for his 22nd save in 25 chances. The Marlins struck first with back-to-back doubles by Hanley Ramirez and Logan Morrison to open the second inning against Trevor Cahill (8-6). Ramirez held up initially on Morrisons drive to right, but scored when David DeJesus relay throw to Weeks was low for an error. There was an odd play in the top of the third inning when Florida had runners on first and third with one out. Omar Infante ran from first on a 3-2 pitch that Gaby Sanchez took for a walk. Kurt Suzuki threw to second base anyway, but Weeks cut off the throw and threw out Emilio Bonifacio at home plate. Florida then chased Cahill with four runs in a fifth inning that started with a couple of infield hits. Bonifacio led off with a bunt single, stole second and went to third on a sacrifice. With two outs, Ramirez reached on a swinging bunt down the third-base line that Adam Rosales didnt pick up in hopes it would roll foul. The ball died inches from the foul line, giving Ramirez an RBI single. That started a run of four straight hits with Logan Morrison knocking in a run with an RBI single and Buck ending Cahills day with his two-run double to centre field. "We made him throw strikes and when he threw strikes we hit them," McKeon said. Cahill allowed five runs -- four earned -- and nine hits in 4 2-3 innings, marking the third time in five starts that he has failed to make it through five innings. "My stuff wasnt as sharp," Cahill said. "The first two times through the lineup I was able to keep the damage to a minimum but the third time around was tough. I didnt have anything to show them. Everything was not as sharp." NOTES: Volstad won for the first time in four career starts without a strikeout. ... The error by DeJesus ended a streak of 301 straight games without an error, the longest active streak for an outfielder. ... Hideki Matsui started in LF for his first appearance in the outfield in an AL park this season. ... The As raised more than US$29,000 for juvenile diabetes research through their annual root beer float day. ' ' ' |
