Hamels Hands It to the Reds

Whenever Cole Hamels comes to Cincinnati, he thinks about the first time he was on a major league mound.

It was there. And it was impressive.

The left-hander added another win to his resume of success in Cincinnati, going six innings to stay unbeaten against the Reds, and the Philadelphia Phillies held on Tuesday night for a 4-3 victory, their fifth in a row.

The NL East leaders matched their longest winning streak of the season behind Hamels, who made his big league debut on May 12, 2006, giving up one hit in five innings at Great American Ball Park. He's always been tough on Cincinnati's predominantly left-handed lineup.

"It's kind of a special place, kind of where everything started for me," said Hamels, who is 3-0 at Great American. "I want to make an impact every time I come here. I know they probably don't want to see that, but that's kind of my goal."

He reached it, with help from some of the Phillies' old dependables.

Ryan Howard hit a solo homer, and slumping Jimmy Rollins doubled and scored during Philadelphia's decisive three-run fifth inning off Johnny Cueto.

Hamels has allowed five earned runs in 36 career innings against the Reds. He improved to 4-0 in five starts against Cincinnati, which got solo homers from Jay Bruce and Jerry Hairston Jr.

Closer Brad Lidge had given up runs in six of his last eight appearances while boosting his ERA to 8.31. He allowed an infield single to Alex Gonzalez and walked Laynce Nix with one out in the ninth, then struck out Willy Taveras, who is in an 0-for-19 slump, and retired Hairston on a routine fly.

"We got runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth, but we couldn't get that big hit," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We had Lidge on the ropes there. We were one hit away."

The defending World Series champions are trying to fix their rotation, which ranked last in the NL with a 6.35 ERA. Manuel demoted struggling Chan Ho Park to the bullpen on Tuesday, replacing him with left-hander J.A. Happ.