Giants 9, Reds 8
CINCINNATI - Right fielder Hunter Pence and first baseman Brandon Belt homered as the hot-hitting San Francisco Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds 9-8 in the finale of a four-game series on Sunday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
San Francisco (20-18) won the final three games in the series, scoring 10, 11 and nine runs in the process.
Right fielder Jay Bruce and second baseman Brandon Phillips homered for Cincinnati, which has lost three straight for the fifth time this season.
Right-hander Yusmeiro Petit (1-0) pitched three innings and was awarded the victory. Right-hander Santiago Casilla struck out three batters in the ninth for his ninth save.
The Giants, who scored 21 runs in the previous two games, erupted for four runs in the second inning on Sunday.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford's RBI single and a run-scoring double by center fielder Gregor Blanco put San Francisco ahead 2-0.
The Giants' barrage paused for a 24-minute rain delay, then resumed when left fielder Nori Aoki delivered a two-run single to make the score 4-0.
San Francisco sent nine batters to the plate in the second, pushing Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani's pitch-count to 51 through two.
DeSclafani (2-4) left after three innings, having allowed six earned runs.
Giants starter Chris Heston allowed five earned runs and seven hits in two-plus innings.
The Reds fought back with four runs in the third. Left fielder Marlon Byrd and Bruce contributed RBI singles in the inning.
It was clear early in Sunday's game that both bullpens were in for a long day.
Phillips cut Cincinnati's deficit to 7-6 with his second homer in the fifth off Petit.
Later in the inning, pinch hitter Skip Schumaker's double to right-center nearly tied the score, but the ball bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double, forcing the runner back to third.
Aoki's bunt single on a safety squeeze play scored Crawford from third to increase the Giants' lead to 8-6 in the seventh.
After narrowly missing a grand slam in the third, Bruce connected for this seventh home run off Jeremy Affeldt in the seventh, making the score 8-7.
Bruce went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs on Sunday.
Belt's third home run in the series, a solo shot off Tony Cingrani in the eighth, got that run back. He went 3-for-4 with a double, homer and RBI on Sunday.
NOTES: Reds RF Jay Bruce had his first three-hit game since Sept. 25, 2014. ... Reds CF Billy Hamilton, batting .212 with a .264 on-base percentage before Sunday, was dropped from the leadoff spot and batted eighth. SS Zack Cozart batted leadoff for the second straight day. ... Giants CF Angel Pagan, who left Saturday's game in the sixth inning with back spasms, was given a day off on Sunday but was fine to play, according to manager Bruce Bochy. ... San Francisco scored 10 or more runs in two straight games for the first time since Aug. 3-4, 2012, at Colorado. ... Cincinnati is 21-11 vs. the Giants over the past five seasons.