If the Cincinnati Reds could play all of their games at Great American Ball Park, they would stand an excellent chance of winning the National League Central. But that’s a pipe dream, of course.

Nonetheless, the Reds are coming off a sweep of the Oakland A’s, taking three straight and coming home to host the Cleveland Indians, whish they did on Friday night.

Aaron Harang was wildly effective – which I will talk about later – and Drew Stubbs went yard and drove home four, leading Cincinnati to the 10-3 shellacking of Cleveland 10-3, winning their fourth straight.

The Reds took care of things early as Drew Stubbs hit a solo shot in the second inning and Brandon Phillips scored due to a walk by Indians starting pitcher Aaron Laffey; Jonny Gomes would then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Orlando Cabrera then Jay Bruce hit a sac fly of his own, scoring Joey Votto and putting Cincinnati ahead to stay 5-0, chasing Laffey.

Carlos Santana hit a home run for Cleveland, narrowing their deficit to 5-2, but Cincinnati settled the matter with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, going up 9-2.

Harang had a quality start, going seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking five, striking out two while giving up a HR to Santana. Logan Ondrusek and Micah Owings combined to pitch two scoreless innings.

While Stubbs had a pair of hits and drove home four, the trio of Phillips, Cabrera and Jay Bruce also had two hits apiece; Scott Rolen went yard and drove home a pair.

Cleveland and Cincinnati get together again on Saturday for Game 2 of this three-game series at Great American Ball Park when Sam LeCure (1-4, 4.50 ERA) gets the nod for the Reds while the Indians will start Justin Masterson (2-6, 4.87 ERA).