San Francisco Giants move into tie with Phillies for NL Wildcard with 16-5 win over the Reds
The San Francisco Giants continued their push to make the post-season for the first time since the 2003 season with a 16-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night.
The Reds pitching staff had no answer for the offense of the Giants who combined for 18 hits and a season high 16 runs, a day after lighting up the Reds for 11 runs off 17 hits.
Pablo Sandoval led the way for the Giants with three hits and four RBIs including his fifth home run in the last two weeks. Andres Torres also had four RBIs courtesy of a pair of two-run doubles.
Four Giants batters hit home runs on the night including second baseman Freddy Sanchez who went four for four on the night including his second home run of the season in the second inning. Juan Uribe added another in the fifth inning along with Buster Posey. Pablo Sandoval added another home run in the sixth inning
Neither starting pitcher did especially well. The Reds pulled Travis Wood prior to the fifth inning after he had given up seven earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out three. Jonathan Sanchez got one out in the fifth inning, but was pulled after giving up his second home run of the inning and third on the day.
Buster Posey continued to make his case for National League Rookie of the Year honors with home run No. 10; since getting called up he has hit .339 with 49 RBIs.
With the win the Giants improved to 71-56 on the season. They remained five and a half games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West who shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 Tuesday night. However, they were able to pull into a tie in the wild card race with the Philadelphia Phillies who lost 4-2 in a 16 inning game with the Houston Astros.
Since the St. Louis Cardinals also lost Tuesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Reds were able to maintain their one game advantage in the NL Central division.
Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to take the mound for the Giants in the final game of a three game series with the Reds; Homer Bailey will try to keep the Reds from getting swept in the series.
San Francisco leads the season series with Cincinnati 4-2.
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