Marlon Byrd provided three RBIs, with his solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning giving the Reds a 4-3 victory over the Giants on Thursday — their third straight win.
Cincinnati was up, 3-2, in the eighth inning when Joe Panik hit a triple off reliever Tony Cingrani that landed near the left-field line and just out of the reach of a sliding Byrd. With the infield playing in, Panik scored the tying run on Angel Pagan’s single, which lined off the glove of first baseman Joey Votto and into right field. In the bottom half, with Sergio Romo pitching with one out, Byrd hit a 1-1 slider into the left-field seats for his eighth homer of the season — and sixth in 11 games.
“The last at-bat with Romo, I was praying he didn’t throw a fastball or that sweeping slider you just can’t touch,” Byrd said. “He just left it out over the plate. I put a good swing on it.”
It was the second night in a row the Giants lost on a solo homer in the eighth. On Wednesday in Houston, George Springer took Jeremy Affeldt deep.
Jumbo Diaz retired the final two batters of the top of the eighth inning for the win in relief. Aroldis Chapman closed it out for the Reds with a 1-2-3 ninth and earned his seventh save.
It was a no-decision for both starting pitchers. The Giants’ Tim Lincecum gave up three runs, five hits and five walks over 4 2/3 innings. Reds ace Johnny Cueto gave up two earned runs and five hits over seven innings, with three walks and nine strikeouts.
“[Cueto] found his game, and he was tough. I don’t think we took full advantage of him early,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
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