Hector Rodriguez set the tone, Eugenio Suarez delivered the swing that cracked the door wide open, and Tyler Stephenson finished the job.
The Cincinnati Reds ripped off seven runs in the ninth inning Wednesday afternoon, storming back from a six-run deficit to beat the San Francisco Giants 10-9 and avoid a three-game road sweep.
Rodriguez opened the comeback with his second homer of the day, a shot that went into the San Francisco Bay. Four batters later, Suarez hammered a grand slam off Dylan Smith (0-5), and suddenly the Reds were back in business, down just 9-8 with nobody out.
From there, Cincinnati kept stacking pressure. Consecutive bunt singles, an error and a stolen base moved runners into scoring position, Jose Trevino tied it with a sacrifice fly, and Stephenson followed with the go-ahead single.
Per MLB, it was the Reds’ first win when trailing by six runs going into the ninth since May 8, 1958, against the Cubs.
The Giants had been in control for most of the afternoon and were trying to lock up their first three-game home sweep of the season. Jonah Cox, Rafael Devers and Shay Whitcomb all went deep for San Francisco, and Drew Gilbert added a bases-clearing pinch-hit double as the Giants built a 9-3 lead heading into the final inning.
Logan Webb also gave them exactly what they needed on the mound for six innings, allowing two runs and five hits while walking one and striking out six. San Francisco pushed him up a day in hopes of easing the load on a bullpen that had thrown 13 2/3 innings over the first two games of the series.
But the ninth wiped out Webb’s chance at a win.
Tony Santillan (2-4), who had given up Gilbert’s three-run hit in the bottom of the eighth, ended up with the victory. Emilio Pagan closed it out with a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. The Reds had managed only four runs over the first 26 innings of the series before exploding for seven in their final trip to the plate.
The Giants’ power display started early. Cox hit his third homer of the year in the second inning, Devers launched his 29th in the fifth - his third in three days - and Whitcomb added his third of the season in the sixth.
Nick Lodolo started for Cincinnati and was tagged for four runs on six hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Rodriguez finished with three hits, matching Elly De La Cruz and Dane Myers for the Reds, who had lost three straight before Wednesday’s rally.
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