Boston hadn't come to town since the 1975 World Series, when the Reds took two of three at Riverfront Stadium. The Big Red Machine then went back to Fenway Park, overcame Carlton Fisk's dramatic wave-it-fair homer that ended Game 6, and won the championship in seven.
As a reminder of those glory days, the Reds showed off their '75 championship trophy at the ballpark.
The franchises have met only once since that drama. The Reds went to Fenway for an interleague series in 2005 and got swept and roughed up, outscored 23-4 in the three games.
Back home, the Reds were back on top.
Harang (3-9) hadn't won since May 12, losing his last four starts. The right-hander also was coming off his worst performance of the season
- eight runs in 5 1-3 innings of a 9-2 loss in Florida on Sunday.
He was back in form against Boston, allowing four hits and one run in seven innings. Francisco Cordero gave up a single in the ninth before finishing for his 13th save in 16 chances.
Rookie Justin Masterson (3-1) gave up three runs and struck out a career-high nine in 6 2-3 innings during his first career start on the road. This one came about an hour's drive from his hometown of Beavercreek.
The series featured a pair of sluggers who recently reached milestones.
Boston's Manny Ramirez flied out to Ken Griffey Jr. at the wall in right field during his first at-bat, then singled home a run in the fourth inning. Ramirez became the 24th player to reach 500 homers on May 31, and has been on a tear lately
- six homers in his last 12 games.
The RBI was the 1,653rd of his career, breaking a tie with Tony Perez for 24th place on the career list. He left the game in the seventh with a sore hamstring.
Griffey became the sixth player to get 600 homers last Monday in Florida, but has yet to get on a home run tear. He went 1-for-3 with a walk on Friday.
