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  Friday, Sep. 29 8:10pm ET
Villone throws 2-hitter, gets 3 hits himself
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Really, Ron Villone is not a strikeout pitcher.

Ron Villone
Ron Villone's 16 strikeouts against St. Louis on Friday tied a franchise record.
Try telling that to the St. Louis Cardinals after Villone fanned 16, tying a franchise record, in the Cincinnati Reds' 8-1 victory Friday night.

Villone had no idea how he doubled his previous career strikeout best.

"If I knew, I'd go to Vegas," said Villone, who entered the game with 61 strikeouts in 132 innings. "I'm just thinking about what I can do out there, like get groundballs.

"I was thinking all night, just get groundballs, and fortunately enough they missed a lot of them," he said.

Villone (10-10) pitched a two-hitter. He topped the Cardinals himself, getting three singles.

He tied the franchise strikeout record held by Jim Maloney (1963) and Noodles Hahn (1901) for a nine-inning game. Maloney holds the club record with 18 in an 11-inning game in 1965.

Villone's previous strikeout high was eight on Sept. 12, 1999.

"His stuff was moving, I'll tell you what," said Fernando Vina, who struck out leading off the first inning. "He had it going."

The NL Central champion Cardinals are tied with the Atlanta Braves, who lost 4-2 to Colorado, for the second-best record in the NL. San Francisco is two games ahead of both teams in the race for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Making his first start since Sept. 14, Villone allowed one hit the first seven innings before Fernando Vina tripled to start the eighth. He struck out the side in the first and fanned Fernando Tatis four times.

Reds manager Jack McKeon replaced Pete Harnisch with Villone in the rotation because he wanted to give Villone a chance to even his record.

"The other guy pitching tomorrow (Osvaldo Fernandez) is coming off rehab, and we want to get him some innings," McKeon said. "Pete's got nothing to prove. These guys are fighting for their lives."

Mark McGwire also struck out as a pinch-hitter for the last out in the fifth with a runner on second. He's 4-for-13 since returning from the disabled list.

Stephenson (16-9) missed his last start due to arm fatigue and a 12-day break didn't help. He gave up five runs, all on home runs, on nine hits in five innings and has a 6.60 ERA in five September starts.

Manager Tony La Russa, terse all day after losing catcher Mike Matheny for the season with torn tendons in his right right finger, was noncommittal about Stephenson's chances of making the postseason rotation.

"What's the next question?" La Russa said. "That's a good question to ask, but I don't have an answer for that. That's something you reflect on, isn't it?"

Stephenson was upbeat considering the circumstances.

"I haven't heard a thing," Stephenson said. "So I'll wait until I find out what's going on and we'll go from there."

Michael Tucker opened the game with his second straight leadoff homer, his 15th overall, and Sean Casey added a two-run shot in the first for a 3-0 lead.

Casey doubled with two outs in the third ahead of Alex Ochoa's 13th homer for a 5-0 lead.

The Cardinals' only hit the first seven innings was a leadoff single in the second by Eric Davis. They scored in the fifth when Edgar Renteria walked with two outs and scored when Eli Marrero's line drive to center sailed under Tucker's glove and rolled to the wall.

A sellout crowd of 46,152 was the Cardinals' 35th of the season and gave them a season attendance record of 3,241,861. The previous record was 3,225,334 last year.

The Reds added three runs in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk by Chris Sexton, a sacrifice fly by Brian Hunter and an RBI single by Ochoa.

Game notes
Villone threw 148 pitches. ... Villone was moved to the bullpen after allowing 15 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings his previous three starts, all losses. His last outing was in relief. He allowed two runs, one earned, on Tuesday at Milwaukee. ... Matheny cut himself with a hunting knife earlier in the day. The knife was a birthday present Matheny had just opened. ... The Cardinals have struck out a league-leading 1,241 times, breaking last year's team record of 1,202. Jim Edmonds struck out both of his at-bats, raising his team-record total to 166. ... The Cardinals swung at strike three on Villone's first 13 strikeouts.
 


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