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Friday, Sep. 22 7:05pm ET
Lima gives up NL-record 47th homer | |||||
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- What is this, Coors Field? The Houston Astros broke the NL single-season home run record Friday night but got outslugged by Cincinnati, as Sean Casey homered twice to lead the Reds to a 12-5 victory. "It looked like Home Run Derby out there tonight," Reds manager Jack McKeon said. "Thank God we had more guys popping them out than they did." The Reds hit six and Houston three -- two by Richard Hidalgo and one by Lance Berkman -- to give the Astros 240 for the season. Colorado had 239 in 1997. "That says a lot about our season," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "We set the home run record and lose the game by giving up home runs." Juan Castro, Michael Tucker and Casey all homered in the second inning off Jose Lima, who set an NL single-season record by giving up his 47th home run. Philadelphia's Robin Roberts allowed 46 home runs in 1956, when he pitched 297 innings in 43 games. Lima has pitched 188 1/3 innings in 32 games this season. "He wasn't able to get much past them," Dierker said. "It was either out of the strike zone or out of the park." The major league record for home runs surrendered in a season is 50, set by Minnesota's Bert Blyleven in 1986. An RBI double by Casey and a sacrifice fly by Alex Ochoa gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead in the first. A five-run second chased Lima (7-16), who gave up five hits, walked three and struck out one. It was Lima's shortest outing this year, but only his second-worst home run inning. He tied a major league record April 27 when the Chicago Cubs homered four times in the first inning. Benito Santiago walked to lead off the Reds' second, and Castro followed with his second home run of the season. Pitcher Elmer Dessens singled, and Tucker followed with his 13th homer. Two outs later, Casey hit his 16th home run. "After the way I started, it turned out to be a pretty good season," said Casey, who began the year on the DL with a broken right thumb. When he was activated, he didn't get is first RBI until his 41st at-bat. "It's satisfying to be able to come back the way I did," said Casey, batting .311 with 73 RBIs. The Reds' six home runs were a season high, while Houston matched a club record for homers allowed. "The way we score, I thought if we held them to five runs we were back in the game," Dierker said. Dessens (10-5) won his fourth straight start, allowing three runs and 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Hidalgo hit solo homers, his 43rd and 44th, in the second and eighth innings for the Astros, who extended their franchise record to 108 homers on the road. Their old mark was 103 in 1999. "He's as hot as anyone I've seen, ever," Dierker said. "It seems like he's always hitting two a night." Hidalgo has five in the past four games. Houston made it 7-3 in the seventh on an RBI double by Bill Spiers and Jeff Bagwell's groundout. The Reds answered with solo homers by Casey and Santiago off Rusty Meacham, and Ochoa added a three-run homer in the eighth off Jose Cabrera. Berkman's solo homer in the ninth, his 20th, gave Houston the record. Game notesOnly Hidalgo and Bagwell have hit 40 homers in a season for Houston. ... Cincinnati 2B Pokey Reese, who left Wednesday's game in San Francisco after being hit on the left hand with a pitch, was not in Friday night's lineup. ... With Reese out, CF Tucker batted leadoff for only the third time this season. ... RHP Pete Harnisch is scheduled to start on Saturday, his 34th birthday. ... Ken Griffey Jr. has not started since suffering a partial tear of his left hamstring on Sept. 11 but has pinch hit twice. ... This three-game series is the middle leg of a nine-game trip for the Astros, who finish the season at home. It's also the last home series for Cincinnati. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Houston Clubhouse Cincinnati Clubhouse RECAPS Baltimore 3 Boston 1
Cincinnati 12
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