Tyler Stephenson and the Reds wasted no time putting Sunday’s game in their hands, then held off a wild counterpunch from Hunter Goodman to leave Denver with a 9-6 win over the Rockies.
Cincinnati cracked Colorado starter Ryan Feltner early and often, scoring five times in the first inning and adding three more in the second. The big blows kept coming from the middle of the order: Nathaniel Lowe launched a three-run homer, Sal Stewart followed with another three-run shot, and Stephenson added a pair of homers of his own as the Reds clinched the rubber match of the three-game set.
Hunter Greene gave Cincinnati exactly what it needed after that early burst. The right-hander worked six innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking none and striking out seven to improve to 2-1.
Stephenson set the tone right away with a two-run homer in the first, then came back with a solo shot in the fifth before finishing with a double in the seventh. Dane Myers chipped in with two hits, and the Reds kept piling on against Feltner, who was tagged for eight runs on seven hits in just 2 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Colorado’s offense belonged almost entirely to Goodman. He homered three times for the second time this season and drove in five runs, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Rockies from dropping their fourth game in their last five. Willi Castro added a solo homer in the ninth.
Cincinnati’s first-inning outburst started with two outs and two runners aboard, when Lowe turned on Feltner’s 1-0 slider and sent it over the right-field wall for his 11th homer of the season. Eugenio Suarez followed with a single, then scored on Stephenson’s drive to left-center.
Goodman answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-out solo homer to get Colorado on the board.
The Reds kept the pressure on in the second. Myers led off with a double, Elly De La Cruz walked, and Stewart jumped on Feltner’s first pitch for his 20th homer of the season.
Greene settled in after that, retiring nine straight before Jake McCarthy opened the sixth with a single. One out later, Goodman crushed a 435-foot homer to left-center.
He wasn’t done. Goodman struck again in the eighth with a two-run blast off Sam Moll, a 442-foot shot that gave him a team-high 30 homers on the season.
Still, the Reds had already done enough. They’ve now won 18 of their last 22 meetings with Colorado.
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