Brandon Phillips tripled in the tying run and Joey Votto singled in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Cincinnati Reds edged the San Francisco Giants, 7-6, on Thursday.
Phillips finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Scott Rolen drove in his team-leading 43rd run for the Reds, who earned a split of the four-game series.
The Giants carried a 6-4 lead into the eighth and called on right-hander Guillermo Mota to get the ball to the closer. Mota (0-2) didn’t have it in him on this day however, as he allowed a leadoff single to Roberto Hernandez and a double to Chris Heisey before Phillips tied it up with a two-run triple.
Laynce Nix lined out for the first out but Votto came up next and pushed Phillips across with a single to center.
The late rally took rookie right-hander Mike Leake off the hook. The 21-year-old was in line for his first major league loss after allowing five runs on 11 hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Arthur Rhodes (2-1) earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless frames of relief.
Aubrey Huff and Aaron Rowand homered for the Giants, who squandered a 4-0 lead in the contest.
San Francisco | Cincinnati | |
Todd Wellemeyer | Player | Mike Leake |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
2.0 | IP | 4.1 |
1 | Strikeouts | 2 |
1 | Hits | 11 |
0.00 | ERA | 10.38 |
San Francisco | Cincinnati | |
Aubrey Huff | Player | Brandon Phillips |
2 | Hits | 4 |
2 | RBI | 2 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 6 |
.667 | Avg | .800 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
San Francisco | 13 | 2 | 21 | .361 | 22 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Cincinnati | 13 | 0 | 17 | .371 | 19 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 |