The Giants had been shut out through seven innings. They’d been no-hit for all but one of those 21 outs. They were in jeopardy of getting swept by the Reds in frustrating fashion, having failed to take advantage of a lively ballpark for three days.
Then San Francisco’s two-out rally in the eighth inning stunned the Reds.
Joc Pederson chopped a single to score the Giants’ first run of the game and cut Cincinnati’s lead to 2-1. Then Evan Longoria, who was 0-for-3 on the day, blasted a three-run home run the other way over the right field fence.
Again the Giants needed some late-inning magic, and again they found it. Longoria’s fourth home run of the week — and season — put the Giants (25-20) in front. Two more two-out runs in the eighth gave Tyler Rogers and closer Camilo Doval breathing room to keep them ahead in a 6-4 victory to avoid a sweep.
San Francisco was playing catch-up since the second inning, when the Reds took a 1-0 lead without hitting a ball in the air. An infield single that short-hopped off Evan Longoria’s glove started the inning. A double-play ball would’ve erased the base runner, but San Francisco’s defensive shift stole that opportunity. A walk and another single — this one between third and deep short — gave Cincinnati a 1-0 lead.
It was a perfectly appropriate Alex Cobb inning. The starter entered Sunday as the unluckiest pitcher in baseball, sporting a 6.25 ERA compared to his 1.93 expected ERA. The two soft hits in the second inning are exactly what Cobb is trying to induce, but the ball just hasn’t bounced the righty’s way.
And in similarly appropriate fashion, Cobb struck out the side in the next inning. All three of his weapons — sinker, splitter and curveball — were lively.
As electric as Cobb was, Mahle was even better. The Reds starter no-hit the Giants through 6.2 innings. His splitter, which is slightly slower and has slightly less movement than Cobb’s, routinely fooled Giants hitters.
Mahle kept everything in the bottom of the zone. Then when two walks put a runner in scoring position in the sixth, he worked over the top to strike out Joc Pederson and end the inning.
Thairo Estrada broke up Mahle’s no-hitter bid with two outs in the sixth inning, sending the starter out of the game with his double. But Hunter Strickland, on the five-year anniversary of the Bryce Harper brawl in Oracle Park, struck out Luis González to end the inning.
Joey Votto’s two-out RBI double in the sixth inning added an earned run to Cobb’s final line, but he still had his most effective start of the year by striking out eight. He just didn’t get the requisite run support.
That came later.
Darin Ruf started and ended the eighth inning by striking out. But between those, the Giants put seven runners on base. Tommy La Stella doubled, then the rest of the inning came with two outs. Wilmer Flores walked. Joc Pederson chopped an RBI single. Longoria’s homer — an inside-out swing on a low-and-in fastball — scored three. Brandon Crawford walked, Thairo Estrada singled and González doubled them home.
The Reds used three relievers in the inning to try to capture the third and final out. The Giants, moments removed from getting no-hit, couldn’t do anything but hit. They scored twice as many runs in the eighth inning — six — than they did in the previous two games combined.
Had the Giants not continued to mash after Longoria’s home run, they may not have come out with a win. Rogers worked out of a jam to preserve SF’s four-run lead, but Doval allowed a two-run homer in the ninth. Albert Almora Jr.’s shot, which came off a 100 mph inside fastball, halved SF’s lead.
But the six-run eighth proved enough.
Earlier this year, the Reds threw a combined no-hitter, but lost 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. While Mahle lost his no-hitter on Sunday in the seventh, the Giants’ sweep-saving rally again trivialized a brilliant Reds pitching performance.