The Cincinnati Reds offense exploded for seven runs in the first two innings and hit four home runs on the game. That was more than enough on Wednesday night to pick up an 8-3 win over the San Francisco Giants to ensure a series victory at Great American Ball Park.
The Cincinnati Reds wasted little time on Wednesday night against former Red Tyler Mahle. TJ Friedl singled and Matt McLain walked to start the bottom of the 1st and both came around to score when Sal Stewart crushed a 3-run home run into right center. Three pitches later Eugenio Suarez hit a home run of his own to make it 4-0.
San Francisco would get two of those runs back after three straight runners reached in the top of the 2nd. Daniel Susac was able to cash in with a 2-run double that cut the score to 4-2. Cincinnati would come back to the plate in the bottom of the inning and get right back to work. A leadoff walk was erased by a pickoff, but back-to-back walks to Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz to present them with another run scoring chance and once again Sal Stewart was ready for it. For the second time in as many innings the rookie homered into the seats in right-center for a 3-run home run as Cincinnati grabbed a 7-2 lead.
That’s where the score remained until the bottom of the 4th inning. Elly De La Cruz got ahead 3-0 before Tyler Mahle ran the count full. On the 6th pitch he tried to get a fastball by him up in the zone and Cincinnati’s shortstop got every bit of it as he hit it 442 feet to dead center to make it 8-2.
Rhett Lowder was rolling through the 6th inning. But when he headed back out for the 7th the Giants were beginning to make hard contact. They would get two singles against him, and the two outs they made were both lineouts. After the second single put runners on the corners the Reds went to the bullpen and called in Brock Burke. He battled with Heliot Ramos for a 7-pitch at-bat, but Ramos lined a single into right to plate a run and cut the lead to five. That would be the only run San Francisco would get.
Both teams would have two runners on in the 8th inning but neither could get any of those runners to the plate. Cincinnati then sent Pierce Johnson to the mound to try and put the game away in the 9th inning. After giving up a leadoff double to Jung Hoo Lee, Johnson would retire the next three batters and strand him at third as Cincinnati picked up the 8-3 victory and gave themselves a series win with one game left in the 3-game set.
Key Moment of the Game
Sal Stewart’s second home run of the game that turned a 2-run lead into a 5-run lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Sal Stewart tied a Reds record (since at least 1969 according to MLB’s Sarah Langs) by driving in six runs in the first two innings of the game, matching Nick Castellanos from September of 2021. He’s the second youngest Red to drive in six runs in a game, with only Elly De La Cruz besting him on that one. The rookie is now hitting .323/.434/.726 on the season.
Eugenio Suarez had three hits in the game. His home run was the first he’s hit since April 1st.
Graham Ashcraft threw a shutout 8th inning and lowered his ERA to 1.80 on the season.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
San Francisco Giants vs. Cincinnati Reds
Thursday April 16th, 12:40pm ET
Landen Roupp (2-1, 3.24 ERA) vs Chase Burns (1-1, 3.31 ERA