Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati preview

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

Last Meeting ( May 12, 2010 ) Cincinnati 5, Pittsburgh 0

The Cincinnati Reds are surprising a lot of people so far this season. The Pittsburgh Pirates are maintaining the status quo.

The Reds will be looking to climb back on top of the NL Central when they open a four-game series against the lowly Pirates on Monday.

A trendy pick to make some noise this season, Cincinnati was supposed to do battle in the wild card race while the St. Louis Cardinals ran away with the division. But with more than a quarter of the season completed, the Reds sit just one-half game in back of the Cardinals and appear to be poised for the long haul.

The lineup combines youth - Jay Bruce, Drew Stubs, Chris Heisey and Joey Votto - with quality veterans - Orlando Cabrera, Brandon Phillips and Scott Rolen - and ranks fourth in batting average and fifth in runs in the National League.

The pitching staff blends the veteran savvy of Bronson Arroyo and closer Francisco Cordero with young power arms like Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake.

Cincinnati had won three straight before falling to the Cleveland Indians, 4-3, on Sunday. Rolen hit a pair of homers in the contest to move into a tie with Votto for the team lead at 10 blasts.

Votto, 26, is quickly establishing himself as one of the better players in all of the National League, batting .307 with an on-base percentage of .404 and a team-leading 32 RBIs. The Toronto native has four multi-hit games in his last seven starts.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is looking like a safe bet to record its 19th consecutive losing season. The Pirates are not at the bottom of the NL Central but own the worst run differential in the major leagues by a substantial margin at minus-109 - almost 40 runs worse than the Houston Astros.

While the pitching staff has yielded the second-most runs in the NL, the offense hasn't given it much support - ranking next to last in batting average, runs scored, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Pittsburgh did manage to snap a three-game slide on Sunday, topping the Atlanta Braves, 3-2, in 10 innings. Ryan Doumit, who leads the team with 10 homers and is the most likely veteran to get traded in the Pirates' annual mid-summer sale, hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 10th for a walk-off victory.

The Reds will attempt to coerce a solid outing out of one-time ace Aaron Harang on Monday. After going 32-17 and eclipsing the 200-strikeout barrier in 2006 and 2007, Harang has fallen on hard times over the past two-plus seasons.

Theoretically healthy coming into the 2010 campaign, Harang was hoping to put behind him the last two seasons - which included a 12-31 record and an ERA near 4.50 - and get back to being the top of the rotation starter that earned him a four-year, $36.5 million contract after the 2006 season.

But if the veteran right-hander wants the Reds to pick up their $12.75 million option for 2011, he's going to need to lower his 6.02 ERA. Harang has allowed four runs in six innings in each of his last two starts and has been victimized by the long ball all season, surrendering 10 homers in 52 1/3 total innings.

Harang has handled the Pirates well in his career, going 12-5 with a 4.01 ERA in 21 starts, including his lone shutout of 2009, when he allowed three hits and struck out nine on April 12.

Pittsburgh will send left-hander Brian Burres to the mound in the opener. Burres has made five starts among eight appearances this season and picked up his first quality start of the 2010 campaign last time out against Milwaukee, allowing three runs and seven hits in six innings while striking out three in a no decision.

Burres has made one appearance against Cincinnati this season, tossing a scoreless ninth and striking out one on May 11.