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Ramirez, Uggla power Marlins over Reds

Jun 8, 2008 - 9:38 PM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Hanley Ramirez did his best to properly welcome one of Florida's talented young arms.

Ramirez homered twice and Ryan Tucker pitched five solid innings in his major league debut as the

Florida Marlins defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2, in the third of a four-game series Sunday afternoon.

Ramirez now has seven career multi-homer games, including three this season. He drove in four runs while hitting his 13th and 14th homers of the season.

"I was waiting for my pitch and I just have to be a little bit more patient and not swing at the slider in the dirt," Ramirez said.

Dan Uggla hit two doubles and drove in three runs for the Marlins, who had 13 hits in winning two straight over the Reds after losing the previous seven contests between the two clubs.

"They didn't miss too many pitches, whenever you made a mistake they hit it pretty hard," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

Tucker (1-0) allowed one run and two hits in his debut. He struck out six and walked five while throwing 45 of his 89 pitches for strikes.

"It went pretty good," Tucker said. "I felt like I did as good as I could have. I was pretty nervous in the first couple of innings trying to get used to the whole situation."

The 21-year-old righthander had a 4-2 record and 1.41 ERA in 12 starts at Double-A Carolina before having his contract purchased earlier Sunday. His 1.41 ERA led the Southern League and ranked sixth overall in the minor leagues.

"Tuck has one of those electric arms and a great attitude to go with it," Uggla said. "Every kid dreams of (the major leagues) their whole life, but he settled in and he did a great job. He has some really nasty stuff."

"He had some good movement on his fastball and had a pretty good changeup so he looked good obviously, we only got a couple of hits off of him," said Reds slugger Adam Dunn, who went 0-for-2 with two walks. "He was a little wild in the beginning, but it was his major league debut. If he would have came out painting (the corners), he wouldn't have been human."

The 34th overall pick in the 2005 draft, Tucker earned an extended stay with the team due to outing, remaining in the rotation for now.

The Marlins led, 2-1, in the fifth inning before Jacque Jones reached base with a pinch-hit single followed by Ramirez's two-run blast to left field. Following the homer, Jeremy Hermida and Wes Helms each singled before Uggla drove them home with a double off the left-center field wall for a 6-1 advantage.

Ramirez added another two-run blast in the sixth inning off Reds starter Aaron Harang (2-9), who took the loss after giving up eight runs - seven earned - and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I don't know what's wrong," Harang said. "I just don't have a feel for anything right now. Leaving pitches over the plate is just not normal for me. I have to figure out what it is and go from there."

Reds slugger Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-1 with two walks in his attempt to hit his 600th career home run.

"Growing up, he was the guy I loved watching and I used to go to Dodger Stadium to watch him play," Tucker said. "The first inning I needed to walk him, it was the right situation, but I tried to go after him."

It was the seventh straight game without a longball for Griffey, who is batting .357 (5-of-13) with nine walks during that span.

Griffey and the Reds will have one more game remaining on an eight-game road trip before heading home to host the St. Louis Cardinals.

Corey Patterson hit his fifth home run of the season in the eighth for the Reds.