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Reds, Indians renew rivalry

May 16, 2008 - 1:44 PM Cleveland (22-19) at Cincinnati (18-23) 7:10 pm EDT

CINCINNATI (Ticker) - The "Battle of Ohio" kicks off Friday when the Cleveland Indians visit the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

Cleveland pitching has been excellent over the last six games, posting four shutouts during that span.

The Indians' rotation entered its game Thursday against Oakland with a streak of 43 1/3 innings without allowing a run, and left with a streak of 50 1/3 without allowing an earned run.

Starter Aaron Laffey surrendered one unearned run - on his own throwing error - over seven innings as the Indians completed a three-game series sweep.

Jeremy Sowers (0-0, 5.06 ERA), who has made just one start this season, will try to keep the impressive run going when he takes the mound Friday. The lefthander, in his only appearance with Cleveland this season, permitted three runs over 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees on April 26.

He'll have his work cut out for him against the Reds, who found it very easy to score runs in their last series, posting 20 runs in three wins over Florida.

Johnny Cueto (2-4, 5.91) starts for the Reds, still searching for some consistency after a one-hit, 10-strikeout performance over seven innings in his major-league debut on April 3.

The righthander allowed six runs over 4 2/3 innings in his last start on Sunday, an 8-3 setback to the New York Mets.