Trailing by six in the final frame, Cincinnati ignited a historic rally fueled by two Hector Rodriguez homers and a grand slam to snatch a desperate victory.
The Cincinnati Reds have won one of the most shocking games of the season, scoring seven runs in the ninth inning to take a 10-9 lead, before closer Emilio Pagan shut the door in the bottom half of the inning to prevent the Reds from being swept.
Left-handed starter Nick Lodolo allowed four earned runs in four innings, yielding six hits and two home runs before being pulled before getting out of the fifth inning. He threw 95 pitches.
Cincinnati catcher Jose Trevino got on the board first, scoring Dane Myers for just the second run of the series for the Reds. The Reds didn’t hold the lead for too long, however, after Lodolo gave up a two-run home run to Jonah Cox in the bottom half of the 2nd.
Reds rookie Hector Rodriguez homered to center field to tie the game at two in the third inning. Rodriguez has hits in five straight games.
The Reds gave up the lead on two two-run home runs for the Giants, as Rafael Devers pulled one into McCovey Cove off of Nick Lodolo. Shay Whitcomb then hit a two-run home run of his own off reliever Julian Garcia, blowing the game open and giving San Francisco a 6-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Sal Stewart flew out to center field and scored Ke’Bryan Hayes. The rather mundane play was actually historic, as it was Stewart’s 100th RBI of the season, with Stewart being the first player in the league to reach 100 runs batted in, the first rookie to do so since 2019, and the first Reds rookie to accomplish that feat since 1953.
The Giants added three runs in the eighth on a three-run double by outfielder Drew Gilbert, and it looked like the Reds would leave San Francisco after a disappointing series. However, Cincinnati had other plans.
Hector Rodriguez got the ninth inning started with his second home run of the game, depositing a ball into McCovey Cove to chip away at the Giants' massive lead.
Cincinnati then loaded the bases with no outs for Eugenio Suarez, who launched a grand slam home run into left-center field to cut the Giants' lead to just one. Jose Trevino then tied the game with a sacrifice fly, and Tyler Stephenson took a 10-9 lead with a single over the shortstop's head.
The Reds’ win kept the Giants from posting their first sweep of the season. The Reds snapped a three game losing streak and now face the Chicago Cubs for a three game series in Chicago on Friday, August 28.
