With Monday’s 11-0 drubbing of the Giants, Cincinnati has won five of its last six contests in San Francisco, including the first pair of games of the 2012 National League Division Series. They’ve outscored the Giants 25-3 while going 4-0 against the club that eventually knocked them out of the playoffs last October.
The Reds tattooed Giants starter Tim Lincecum for eight runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings in the right-hander’s first start since his 148-pitch no-hitter July 13.
“Yeah, that was the way to start a road trip,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that previous to a doubleheader.
“I couldn’t have ordered it up any better.”
Shin-Soo Choo sparked the Reds’ lineup with a double to lead off the game, extending his career-best hitting streak to 16 games. With two outs, Todd Frazier lined a double over center fielder Andres Torres’ outstretched arm that cleared the bases for a 3-0 lead.
“That was a big, big play with that two-out double when it looked like Lincecum would get out of trouble,” Baker said.
In all, Lincecum labored through a 31-pitch first inning in his first start in nine days.
“He was so close to getting out of the first,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I’m sure that was deflating for him.”
Cincinnati’s offensive explosion continued for most of the evening, as the club made a bid to become the fourth team since 1900 to score in all nine innings of a game, a feat accomplished most recently by the Rockies in 1999.
“That’s what we want to do,” Baker said. “We went up and down the lineup. I was hoping to [score in all nine innings]. This game’s a funny game. Sometimes you can’t buy a run and sometimes [they’re easy to come by].”
The Reds clubbed three home runs off Lincecum, which tied the most the Giants hurler has yielded in one game. Devin Mesoraco fell a triple short of the cycle. No Red has hit for the cycle since Eric Davis in 1989.
In all, the Reds amassed nine extra-base hits and plenty of run support for starter Bronson Arroyo, who won his 100th game as a Red with his sixth career shutout.
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