CINCINNATI -- Weather may have delayed the start of Tuesday night’s game, but it certainly didn’t delay the bats on either side at Great American Ball Park. After waiting out the rain for an hour and 11 minutes, the Giants and Reds traded blows nearly every inning before a three-run top of the seventh put San Francisco on top for good, as the club came away with an 11-10 win for its seventh straight victory.
The Giants (54-41) are 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers for first in the National League West and have a one-game lead for the top NL Wild Card spot.
“This is something that we know about this team, it's a pretty selfless group,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “They're going to do anything it takes to win a baseball game. … There are a couple of ways we could have played that. But more than anything, our players were prepared for every big moment today.”
Leading the way for San Francisco was Wilmer Flores, who hit two home runs and finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, five RBIs and three runs scored.
Flores entered the series in Cincinnati still searching for his first home run in July. But with two doubles and a homer on Monday and two home runs on Tuesday, Flores is the first Giant with eight total bases in back-to-back games since Barry Bonds on April 2-3, 2002.
After the rain delay, Flores wasted little time before putting the Giants ahead. He pulled a 1-0 cutter to left field for a 404-foot homer, giving them a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first inning.
Flores’ second homer came in his next at-bat, but he did a bit more damage with this one. Brett Wisley walked and Casey Schmitt singled to lead off the third inning, then Flores’ homer brought them home with two outs. He tied the game at 4-4 after the Reds hit a two-run homer in both the bottom of the first and second innings.
“I'm feeling good. I'm swinging at the right pitches,” Flores said of his recent success prior to the game.
“It was a typical slugfest. Our boys were hot, their boys were hitting, and it was just a great game to watch from the bullpen,” said closer Camilo Doval.
Though Flores’ sixth-inning sacrifice fly tied the game at 8-8, he wasn’t part of the eventual go-ahead rally in the seventh. The Giants put two on with one out against Buck Farmer, and the Reds brought in Tony Santillan to face Wisely, who walked to load the bases.
Schmitt was up with the bases loaded and two outs. He worked a 3-0 count, and Santillan fought back to make it a full count. Schmitt took a slider in the dirt and yelled out toward the Giants' dugout in celebration.
“I like when players celebrate walks, because it means they're caring about the right things,” Kapler said. “And [Schmitt is] so intense. You could see some of that intensity come out in that moment.
"Brett Wisely also had some good at-bats today, drew some big walks. Both of those guys saw some pitches, but in particular, I think Wisely got to two strikes a couple times, got pretty grindy and was able to complete those at-bats well and finish with a walk.”
Five hours after locking down the save on 13 pitches in the continuation of Monday night’s game, a 4-2 Giants win, Doval entered in the bottom of the ninth and held the Reds scoreless to earn his MLB-leading 30th save.
“They asked me what my availability was for the second game,” Doval said. “I asked them, 'Well, how many pitches did I throw in the first one?' They told me [13 pitches], so, 'Let's go. I'm ready.' I've never done that before, so I just wanted to have a record for myself.”
With runners on first and second, Spencer Steer grounded a ball to Wisely, who stepped on second base and made an off-balance throw to try to catch the runner at first. Flores, who’d played hero all game, scooped the low throw to seal the win.