By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

Sean Casey looks to the crowd at home plate after he hit a solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter in the sixth inning. (David Kohl/The Associated Press) • More photos from the game

The schedule makers crammed the 19 games into 10 short weeks.

Ten weeks during which the Reds and Cardinals worked in tandem to shape each other's seasons.

But before saying goodbye for the final time this year, they treated 19,421 fans to a sensational show Thursday night at Great American Ball Park.

Backed by flawless defensive play and helped by Sean Casey's sixth-inning solo home run, Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang outdueled Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter with a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 Reds win.

"You just had that feeling that no way was anyone going to hit (Harang) tonight," Casey said. "To tell you the truth, we kind of had that feeling with Carpenter, too."

The win, which came in two hours, five minutes, gave the Reds their first series victory against the Cardinals this year. It was only their fifth win in 19 games against the National League Central leaders this season.

The efficient 106-pitch effort by Harang continued an impressive run that began after the right-hander came off the disabled list in late June.

Harang retired 14 of the first 17 batters he faced and 26 of 30 overall in his first career shutout. He also struck out six and walked one.

"They're a pesky team to face," said Harang, who is 4-4 with a 3.02 ERA in his past 11 starts. "They try to make you throw a lot of pitches.

"I was throwing strikes and they were hitting it on the ground."

St. Louis second baseman Tony Womack had singles in the first and third innings, and shortstop Edgar Renteria walked to lead off the fifth inning.

Neither player so much as touched second base.

Renteria might have were it not for a double play started by Reds second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez.

Harang retired the next batter to end the inning, and didn't stop there.

He retired the Cardinals in order in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

The eighth inning featured a highlight-reel diving catch by Reds right fielder Austin Kearns on a ball hit by Renteria in the gap, and a diving play by third baseman Felipe Lopez on a grounder in the hole by Reggie Sanders.

"Aaron was pitching awesome," Kearns said, "and you're doing everything you can to get some outs behind that guy."

Harang got the first two outs of the ninth before allowing a single to Cardinals right fielder Larry Walker.

Miley came to the mound amid boos and, with Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols coming up, asked Harang how he felt.

"I was telling (my coaches in the dugout), joking around, that if I did take him out and something happened I'd be like the Baltimore Colts sneaking down the road at 4 in the morning," Miley said.

"(Harang) said he felt great. I told him it was his ballgame."

Pujols grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

Carpenter matched Harang throughout his eight innings.

The right-hander retired 14 of the first 18 Reds batters he faced.

Cincinnati managed the four base runners via a walk, two singles and an error in the first four innings.

Casey came up with two outs in the sixth and hit a first pitch change-up into the right field moon deck to break the scoreless tie.

It was the last hit Carpenter, who struck out a career high 11, would allow.

"He threw a (heck) of a game," Harang said. "If he doesn't make that one mistake, we're still playing right now."

The teams didn't face each other for the first time until mid-June.

The Cardinals were a dozen games over .500 and held a two-game lead over the Reds entering a three-game series on June 18 in St. Louis.

Cincinnati was eight games above .500 at the time, and playoff aspirations were still realistic.

Looking back, it marked the beginning of the Cardinals' impressive surge to their current 39 games above .500.

By the time the sixth and final series was over Thursday, the Reds were out of the playoff picture but thrilled with the win.

"They've beaten a lot of people up this season, but they really beat us up," Casey said. "The last series of the year against them, we've played them so much lately, to get a series from them is just huge for us."

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Womack 2b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.306
LWalker rf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.319
Pujols 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.323
Rolen 3b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.321
Edmonds cf	3	0	0	0	0	2	.300
Renteria ss	2	0	0	0	1	0	.296
RSanders lf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.251
Matheny c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.248
Carpenter p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.093
Cedeno ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.275
Totals	29	0	3	0	1	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.276
Larkin ss	3	0	0	0	0	1	.304
JCastro 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.245
Casey 1b	2	1	1	1	1	1	.339
Dunn lf	3	0	1	0	0	1	.273
DJimenez 2b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.262
Kearns rf	3	0	0	0	0	2	.206
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	2	.251
FLopez 3b-ss	3	0	0	0	0	0	.242
Harang p	3	0	0	0	0	3	.022
Totals	27	1	3	1	1	11

St. Louis	000	000	000	-0	3	1
Cincinnati	000	001	00x	-1	3	0

E-Womack (14). LOB-St. Louis 3, Cincinnati 3. HR-Casey (21), off Carpenter. RBIs-Casey (82). CS-DJimenez (7). GIDP-RSanders.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 1 (Kearns).

DP-St. Louis 1 (Matheny and Womack); Cincinnati 1 (DJimenez, Larkin and Casey).

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Carpenter L, 13-5	8	3	1	1	1	11	122	3.61

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Harang W, 8-6	9	3	0	0	1	6	106	4.14

Umpires-Home, Ted Barrett; First, Lance Barksdale; Second, Alfonso Marquez; Third, Ed Rapuano.

T-2:05. A-19,421 (42,271).

Reds 1, Cardinals 0