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The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Rich Harden can't seem to buy a win with the
Chicago Cubs. Randy Johnson, on the other hand, can do no wrong
against the National League Central leaders.
Rookie Alex Romero's first major-league homer broke up Harden's
bid for a no-hitter in the sixth inning, sending the Arizona
Diamondbacks to a 2-0 win over the Cubs on Tuesday.
Since being acquired from the Oakland Athletics on July 9,
Harden has permitted a single run over two starts but has yet to
collect a win. On July 12, Harden tossed 5 1/3 scoreless frames
against San Francisco only to watch reliever Carlos Marmol
implode in the ninth by giving up five runs to send the game
into extra innings.
Against Arizona, the righthander struck out 10 for the second
consecutive game, but lost his no-hitter and a chance at a win
when Romero, homerless in his first 63 at-bats in the majors,
muscled Harden's high 1-2 slider just out of the reach of right
fielder Mark DeRosa and over the fence.
It was the only hit the former Athletics ace allowed over seven
innings.
Unfortunately for Harden, his mound counterpart Randy Johnson
(7-7) had a vintage performance, permitting two hits and walking
one over seven frames, striking out four. With his strikeout of
Aramis Ramirez in the fourth, he became the first player in
major league history to reach to strike out 2,000 with two
teams.
Amazingly, Johnson improved to 13-0 with a 1.82 ERA in 14 career
starts against the Cubs.
The 44-year-old lefthander, who posted his 291st career win, is
the second pitcher to ever go at least 10-0 against the Cubs.
Only Sal Maglie, who was 10-0 in 19 starts against Chicago from
1954 to 1958, had accomplished such a stellar mark against
Chicago.
Stephen Drew added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI
triple, providing enough of a working margin for Micah Owings to
toss a scoreless eighth before handing over the ninth-inning
duties to reliever Chad Qualls, who posted his second save
season after regular closer Brandon Lyon had thrown 55 pitches
over the last two days.
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