Field Level Media
Aug 17, 2018
Phillip Ervin hit the third pitch of the bottom of the 11th inning for a walk-off home run Friday night, delivering the Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series at Cincinnati.
Ervin's homer, his third of the season, came off the sixth Giants pitcher, right-hander Ray Black (2-2), and ended what began as a pitchers' duel between Cincinnati's Anthony DeSclafani and San Francisco's Casey Kelly, the son of Reds interim bench coach Pat Kelly.
Ervin had entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning.
The win allowed the Reds to snap a four-game losing streak on the same day they placed star first baseman Joey Votto on the disabled list with a bruised right shin.
Right-hander David Hernandez (5-0), who pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 11th against the heart of the San Francisco order, was credited with the win.
Making his first start as a Giant, Kelly was pulled one out into the fifth inning, having allowed nine hits but just one run. He walked one and struck out two.
The only run against the former Boston Red Sox first-round pick came in the second inning when Tucker Barnhart doubled and scored on a one-out single by Curt Casali.
Barnhart played in place of Votto, the first start of his career as a first baseman.
The Giants drew even in the third when Andrew McCutchen, a former longtime nemesis of the Reds as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, singled in Steven Duggar, who had doubled.
McCutchen had three hits in the game, giving him 80 in 77 career games at the Great American Ball Park.
DeSclafani limited the Giants to six hits and one run in 7 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Scooter Gennett had three hits, while teammates Jose Peraza and Casali collected two apiece for the Reds, who drew even with the Giants 2-2 in the season series.
Joe Panik had two hits for the Giants, who fell to 2-2 on their 10-game trip.
The Reds out-hit the Giants 11-8.
--Field Level Media