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Indians beat Harang in rubber game of series

May 20, 2007 - 9:46 PM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Indians beat the best the Cincinnati Reds had to offer in the "Battle of Ohio."

Josh Barfield highlighted a four-run fourth inning with a tie-breaking two-run double off Aaron Harang as the Indians posted a 5-3 victory on Sunday in the rubber game of the interleague series.

Cleveland improved the best home record in the majors to 16-4, including a 14-3 mark at Jacobs Field. Three of the "home" games were played at Milwaukee due to inclement weather conditions in Cleveland.

"They like coming back here to play," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "They like this park. We weren't at home early on and I think we are appreciative when we play here."

The Reds staked Harang (5-2), the team leader in wins, to a 2-0 lead. But the Indians scored a run in the third inning and then pounded Harang for four runs and five hits in the fourth inning.

Jhonny Peralta led off the fourth with his 10th home run of the season to tie the game.

"(Harang) threw me an inside pitch and I just tried to make contract," said Peralta, who didn't hit his 10th home run last season until July 13. "Last year, I don't hit that pitch."

Harang then walked David Dellucci and Jason Michaels reached on an infield single before the runners advanced on a wild pitch.

Barfield followed with a double to the gap in left-center field, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead. Barfield stole third and scored on a single by Kelly Shoppach to cap the inning.

"It seems like things haven't been going our way," Harang said. "A hit finds a hole. It was one of those days."

Harang was activated off of the bereavement list prior to the game after flying back from San Diego on Saturday where he was spending time with his ailing grandfather.

"I threw my bullpen on my normal bullpen day when I was home," Harang said. "Everything was normal. I felt fine."

The Reds loaded the bases in the eighth inning on consecutive singles by Chad Moeller, Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper off Paul Byrd (4-1).

"They just put the bat on the ball," Byrd said. "The balls weren't hit that hard, but they were in play."

Wedge then brought in Aaron Fultz, his only lefthander in the bullpen, to face Reds slugger Ken Griffey Jr., who has 15 career grand slams.

Griffey hit a line drive to center fielder Grady Sizemore for a sacrifice fly, pulling the Reds within 5-3.

"We had Griff up with the bases loaded and he smoked the ball to center field," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "We hit some balls hard that were right at people."

Cincinnati then attempted a double steal, but catcher Shoppach fired a throw to third baseman Casey Blake to nail Freel, who believed he slid in ahead of the tag. Narron came out to argue and was ejected by third base umpire Gary Darling.

"(Indians third base coach) Mark Berry had the best angle and he sure didn't think he was out," Narron said. "The umpire was behind the play. He called it the way he saw it, but that's not the way we saw it."

"It was a dumb play on my part," Shoppach said. "(Freel) got a great jump and it was a do-or-die play. Normally I don't make that throw because so much could go wrong, but I saw Casey was close enough to where I could try to make it. It was a super play by Casey to go down and catch the ball."

Reliever Rafael Betancourt then struck out former Indian Brandon Phillips, who earlier homered, to end the inning.

Joe Borowski pitched a hitless ninth inning for his 13th save in 15 chances.

Phillips had led off the second inning with a home run to extend his hitting streak to 22 games. It is the third longest in franchise history behind Pete Rose (44) and Hal Morris (29).

The Reds added another run in the second inning off Byrd. Jeff Conine singled, Scott Hatteberg doubled off the wall in right field and Juan Castro hit a sacrifice fly to center.

The Indians scored their first run in the third inning. Shoppach doubled to right field, moved to third on a grounder to first by Sizemore and came home on a grounder to short by Blake.

Last year, the Indians and Reds split six games in the interleague rivalry.