By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

PHOENIX - This strong start stuff is catching on in the Reds clubhouse.

Brandon Claussen kept the string alive Sunday in beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-1 before a crowd of 32,196 at Bank One Ball Park.

Sean Casey watches his eighth-inning solo home run off Arizona's Mike Fetters Sunday. (AP photo)

"It's contagious," Claussen said. "It can work the other way as well. But when your compadres go out there and pitch well, you want to do your best as well."

Claussen's start - 5 1/3 innings, four hits, one run, one walk, three strikeouts - fell short of the quality-start standard. You need to go at least six innings for that. But it was plenty good enough to win.

And it gave the Reds' young starting staff a 1.80 ERA over the last five games.

"All of them work hard," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "They're all very capable. It's nice to watch them go out and compete."

Josh Hancock, Aaron Harang and Luke Hudson all have pitched once during the good streak. Sunday was Claussen's second outing in the five-game run.

"We're in an organization that's giving us a chance," Claussen said. "We're in a good situation."

Three of the four are recent additions to the rotation. Claussen moved in July 17 after Jesus Sanchez failed. Hancock took Cory Lidle's spot after Lidle was traded. Hudson moved in when Paul Wilson went on the disabled list.

The average age of the rotation is just under 26.

"Claussen pitched great today," Sean Casey said. "They all have. That's big for us. Hopefully, we can keep it going."

Sunday's victory allowed the Reds to win a series for only the second time in their last 10. They did so against Arizona, the team with baseball's worst record. But that did little to dampen the enthusiasm of youth.

"We're playing well," Claussen said. "The relief pitching's been great. The starting pitching has been solid. We'll go home, play St. Louis and try to take another series."

That, obviously, won't be as easy. But it should be noted the string of good starts began against the Cardinals, who have the best record in baseball.

The Reds, who struggled offensively in the first two games of the Arizona series, had no problems Sunday.

They scored one run in the first and three in the second off Stephen Randolph.

Claussen pitched well with the lead. He allowed two base runners - both in the second - through the first five innings.

But after he gave up hits to three of the first four batters in the sixth, one a run-scoring single, Miley pulled him.

"I saw him getting pitches up," Miley. "We're keeping him around 100 pitches."

Claussen threw 93 pitches, and the game was very much in the balance then.

But Ryan Wagner came on and stranded the two runners to keep it at 4-1.

The Reds put the game away with a two-out rally in the seventh. Felipe Lopez was hit by a pitch and Casey singled. Adam Dunn got one run home with a double.

D'Angelo Jimenez followed with his eighth home run to make it 8-1.

"That was big," Miley said.

The Reds would add three more runs in the eighth. One of the three scored on Casey's 20th home run of the year.

"(The win) was big for us," Jimenez said. "We've got to do something to get on track again."

Good starting pitching will go a long way toward that. The Reds are 37-14 when they get a quality start.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	2	2	1	1	1	.281
FLopez ss	3	1	0	2	0	0	.260
Casey 1b	5	2	3	2	0	0	.340
Dunn lf	5	1	1	1	0	2	.274
DJimenez 2b	5	1	1	3	0	1	.256
LaRue c	2	1	1	0	2	0	.256
JCastro 3b	4	1	0	0	1	0	.242
Bragg rf	4	2	2	1	0	1	.205
Claussen p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.111
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Vander Wal ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.154
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	35	11	10	10	4	8

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
McCracken lf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.286
AGreen 3b-2b	4	0	1	1	0	2	.208
DBautista rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.303
Hillenbrand 1b	3	0	1	0	1	0	.306
Hairston 2b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.271
Fetters p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sparks p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.103
Zinter ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.091
Terrero cf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.281
Gil ss	3	0	1	0	0	0	.333
Snyder c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Randolph p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Cormier p	1	1	1	0	0	0	.250
Tracy 3b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.286
Totals	31	1	6	1	1	4

Cincinnati	130	000	430	-11	10	0
Arizona	000	001	000	-1	6	2

E-Hairston (7), Fetters (1).

LOB-Cincinnati 5, Arizona 6.

2B-Freel (15), Casey (39), Dunn (25), Bragg (3), Cormier (1).

HR-Casey (20), off Fetters; DJimenez (8), off Cormier.

RBIs-Freel (22), FLopez 2 (16), Casey 2 (80), Dunn (77), DJimenez 3 (47), Bragg (3), AGreen (3).

SB-JCastro (1). S-Claussen.

SF-FLopez.

GIDP-Bragg, Gil, Tracy.

DP-Cincinnati 2 (FLopez and Casey), (JCastro, DJimenez and Casey); Arizona 1 (Hillenbrand, Gil and Hillenbrand).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Claussen W, 2-3	5 1/3	4	1	1	1	3	93	5.25
RWagner H, 8	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	7	5.06
Riedling	2	0	0	0	0	1	27	4.35
PNorton	1	2	0	0	0	0	11	4.33

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Randolph L, 2-4	3	4	4	3	3	2	80	4.72
Cormier	3 2/3	3	4	4	1	5	56	10.55
Fetters	1 1/3	3	3	3	0	1	22	9.69
Sparks	1	0	0	0	0	0	16	6.13

HBP-by Riedling (Gil), by Riedling (Terrero), by Cormier (FLopez), by Cormier (LaRue).

WP-RWagner, PNorton, Fetters.

T-2:51. A-32,198 (49,033).