Field Level Media
May 12, 2019
Kevin Pillar's tiebreaking single in the eighth inning rallied the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
Trailing 5-4 after Cincinnati took the lead in the top of the eighth, San Francisco tied it on an RBI groundout by Mac Williamson off reliever David Hernandez (0-2) before Pillar singled to center.
Tony Watson (2-0) got the win after getting two outs in the eighth, and Will Smith notched his 10th save.
Pablo Sandoval rapped a two-run homer and added a double in a three-hit game, and pinch hitter Brandon Belt slugged a two-run shot for San Francisco, which broke its three-game skid.
Giants starter Madison Bumgarner gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits over six innings. He struck out seven and didn't walk a batter.
Yasiel Puig homered, Jose Iglesias had two hits and two RBIs, and Jose Peraza and Eugenio Suarez each added two-hit games for the Reds, who finished 3-3 on their West Coast road trip.
Starter Tyler Mahle, winless in eight starts, allowed four runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight, walking one and giving up a pair of homers.
The Reds plated a pair of unearned runs when Iglesias' two-out single to center field scored Nick Senzel and Suarez in the first inning.
However, the Giants escaped further trouble when Pillar, who made an error on Iglesias' hit to allow him to move to second, threw out the Cincinnati shortstop at the plate on Kyle Farmer's single.
Mahle fanned the side in the bottom of the first, but not before Sandoval clubbed an opposite-field, two-run homer on a 93 mph fastball -- his fourth home run of the season -- to tie the game at 2.
The Reds regained the lead at 3-2 in the second inning with consecutive two-out doubles to left field by Peraza and Senzel.
Mahle and Bumgarner were sharp in the middle frames, with the right-handed Mahle retiring 11 consecutive hitters at one point and the southpaw Bumgarner dispatching nine straight.
Puig got to Bumgarner on the first pitch of the sixth inning, swatting a two-seam fastball high to left field.
The Cuban-born outfielder's seventh homer gave Cincinnati a 4-2 lead, but Belt tied it in the seventh with his sixth home run.
Tucker Barnhart's bases-loaded walk gave the Reds a 5-4 lead in the eighth.
--Field Level Media