Bucs’ Hanrahan collapses

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Joel Hanrahan isn’t much for excuses. Tired arm or not, the Pittsburgh Pirates closer knows his job is to get outs and save games.

For the second time in three days, he failed to do both.

The Cincinnati Reds scored two runs off the burly All-Star in the top of the ninth to steal a 5-4 victory on Sunday, though Hanrahan wasn’t about to blame the performance on being overworked despite pitching for the third straight game.

“Everybody goes through a tough stretch. Mine is right now, I guess,” Hanrahan said after blowing his third save of the season. “So that’s something you’ve got to battle through and maybe cut back in the weight room or something, but it’s just a tough stretch. You just gotta come out and be ready the next day.”

Ramon Hernandez hit an RBI-single off Hanrahan (0-3) to tie the game with one out in the top of the ninth and Dave Sappelt scored on Brandon Phillips’ fielder’s choice two batters later as the Reds rallied for a 5-4 victory on Sunday.

Joey Votto added a three-run homer for the Reds. Jose Arredondo (3-3) pitched two perfect innings of relief while closer Francisco Cordero survived an eventful ninth to pick up his 26th save.

The Reds aren’t exactly claiming to have found the secret to beating Hanrahan.

“He’s one of the best closers around,” Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. “There’s the theory about the third day in a row being tough on a pitcher but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

Cincinnati touched Hanrahan for three runs in 1/3 of an inning of an 11-8 win on Friday. Though Hanrahan rebounded to pick up his 31st save on Saturday, on Sunday he again ran into trouble while struggling with his control.

Todd Frazier led off the ninth with a single and later Ryan Hanigan walked with one out. Frazier scored on pinch-hitter Hernandez’s single to left and the Reds loaded the bases on a soft single by Miguel Cairo.

Phillips followed with a chopper to second. Pittsburgh’s Neil Walker hurried a toss to shortstop Ronny Cedeno for one out but had no chance to get a hustling Phillips as Sappelt crossed the plate to put Cincinnati in front.

“It was a big victory for us, especially against their closer that has been outstanding all year and has good stuff,” Cairo said. “It was great to be able to get some runs off him a couple of times in this series.”

Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen each hit two-run homers for Pittsburgh.