Hector Rodriguez blasted a home run into the San Francisco Bay, Eugenio Suarez launched a grand slam and Tyler Stephenson lined a go-ahead single — all in a seven-run ninth inning — and the Cincinnati Reds avoided a three-game road sweep with a 10-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon.
Per MLB, this was the Reds’ first win when trailing by six runs going into the ninth since May 8, 1958 (vs. the Cubs).
Seeking their first three-game home sweep of the season, the Giants used two-run homers by Jonah Cox, Rafael Devers and Shay Whitcomb, a bases-clearing, pinch-hit double by Drew Gilbert and six effective innings from Logan Webb to take a 9-3 lead into the ninth.
Rodriguez ignited the rally with his second homer of the day leading off the uprising. When Suarez took Dylan Smith (0-5) over the left-field wall four batters later, all of a sudden the visitors were within 9-8 with still no outs.
Consecutive bunt singles combined with an error and a stolen base to put runners on second and third before Jose Trevino tied the score with a sacrifice fly. Stephenson then delivered his go-ahead hit.
Tony Santillan (2-4), who served up Gilbert’s three-run hit in the bottom of the eighth, was credited with the win. Emilio Pagan notched his 17th save with a scoreless ninth for the Reds, who had totaled just four runs in the first 26 innings of the series before adding seven in their final series of at-bats.
The ninth-inning collapse cost Giants ace Webb a win. Pushed up a day in hopes of taking some of the burden off a bullpen that had thrown 13 2/3 innings in the first two games of the series, Webb responded by going six innings while limiting the Reds to two runs and five hits. He walked one and struck out six.
The lead-building homers by the Giants were the third of the year by Cox in the second inning, the 29th by Devers in the fifth, and the third by Whitcomb in the sixth.
The blasts by Cox and Devers, his third in three days, came off Reds starter Nick Lodolo, who was charged with four runs on six hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Rodriguez’s homers were his second and third of the season. He finished with three hits, as did Elly De La Cruz and Dane Myers for the Reds, who had lost three in a row.
Cox and Gilbert combined for two hits, two runs and five RBIs out of the leadoff spot for the Giants, while Whitcomb collected two hits, two runs and two RBIs.
