Five different Cincinnati batters homered in each of the first five innings, and starter Tyler Mahle went six innings as the host Reds routed the road-weary Colorado Rockies, 11-5, Friday night.
Homers from Nick Castellanos, Scott Heineman, Joey Votto, Kyle Farmer and Tyler Stephenson off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (0-2) marked the first time in Reds franchise history that five different batters went deep in each of the first five innings.
Mahle (6-2) yielded a leadoff single to Raimel Tapia and a two-out walk to Charlie Blackmon to open the game but then retired the next 12 batters -- which could have been more if not for a strikeout/passed ball allowed a fifth-inning runner.
In winning his fourth straight start, the right-hander tired in the sixth, allowing a run on a wild pitch before a three-run homer from Ryan McMahon.
The Rockies continue to be on the wrong side of history this season, falling to 5-25 on the road, by far the worst such mark in the majors.
Baseball's best offensive 1-2 punch did it again for the Reds in the opening inning against Freeland.
Jesse Winker extended his hitting streak to eight games with an opposite-field single to left-center. Castellanos followed that up by also going opposite field, drilling a fastball 408-foot homer to right-center, his 13th home run of the season, to put Cincinnati ahead, 2-0.
Reds center fielder Scott Heineman came into Friday's game with just one hit in 14 at-bats, a solo shot on May 22 against Milwaukee. He doubled his hit and homer totals with a long two-run homer to left off Freeland in the second for a 4-0 Cincinnati advantage.
Votto joined the home run parade with his second homer in as many games, a three-run opposite field blast several rows deep in left for a 7-0 Cincinnati lead. Votto's seventh of the season was also his 1,934th hit with the Reds, tying Tony Perez for sixth all-time in franchise history.
Farmer connected off Freeland to open the fourth, while Stephenson added his fourth of the season to lead off the fifth and a 9-0 Cincinnati lead.
Freeland, who became the first MLB pitcher this season to allow five homers in a game, was finally pulled by Rockies manager Bud Black following the Stephenson homer.
The Reds, who placed their most consistent reliever -- Tejay Antone -- on the injured list before the game, removed Eugenio Suarez from the game for a pinch hitter in the fifth before trainers tended to him in the dugout.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Cincinnati | |
Kyle Freeland | Player | Tyler Mahle |
Loss | W/L | Win |
4.0 | IP | 6.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 6 |
8 | Hits | 5 |
18.00 | ERA | 6.00 |
Colorado | Cincinnati | |
Raimel Tapia | Player | Nick Castellanos |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 5 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Colorado | 7 | 2 | 13 | .206 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Cincinnati | 10 | 5 | 26 | .278 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 0 |