Belt, Bumgarner power Giants past Reds
CINCINNATI -- The Giants hit two home runs, including one from Brandon Belt during his four-RBI night, to boost Madison Bumgarner in a 10-2 win over the Reds on Friday night.
As Reds starter Jason Marquis struggled from the get-go, Belt quickly made it a 3-0 game in the first inning with his three-run homer to right field on a first pitch. Buster Posey made it 5-1 with his two-run homer to left field in the third inning. Marquis lasted only three innings in the loss and allowed six earned runs and seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Video: SF@CIN: Posey swats two-run homer, extends lead
"I'm proud of the guys," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, whose team came into Friday having scored the second-fewest runs in the National League. "They showed they can break out of it, put some big runs on the board and have some big innings."
Bumgarner finished with two earned runs on eight hits over his seven innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out four.
Video: SF@CIN: Bumgarner goes seven strong, strikes out four
"That [lead] gives you the freedom to attack guys a little more," said Bumgarner, who passed 1,000 innings pitched in his career.
Video: SF@CIN: Bumgarner makes impressive slide and throw
The Reds hit two homers as well, but both were solo shots. Zack Cozart hit a one-out homer to left field in the bottom of the first. Two batters later, Todd Frazier hit a two-out double before Bumgarner retired the next seven batters in a row and 12 of 14. With two outs in the fifth, on an 0-2 pitch, Billy Hamilton hit a homer to left field to make it a 6-2 game.
Video: SF@CIN: Hamilton hits solo homer in the 5th
"It was a challenge to get back in the ballgame against Bumgarner," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He had good stuff. It was kind of as expected. It just wasn't our best ballgame."
San Francisco added three more runs in the seventh inning against Michael Lorenzen, including Belt's RBI double to right field that scored Angel Pagan.
Video: SF@CIN: Belt knocks RBI double to extend lead
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Belted: Belt gave the Giants the lead in the first inning with his first home run of the season, a two-out, three-run blast that nearly left the park. The ball was caught by fans on the upper concourse near the party deck over the Giants' bullpen, just inside the right-field foul pole, traveling a projected 421 feet by Statcast™. More >
Shortstop power: Cozart got a run back for the Reds in the bottom of the first by sending Bumgarner's 0-1 pitch into the first row of seats in left field. It gave him six home runs on the season, which leads National League shortstops. In his last 28 games since a 1-for-12 start to the season, Cozart is batting .347 and .321 overall.
Video: SF@CIN: Cozart smacks solo homer in the 1st
"I've never seen him [hit] like this," Price said. "Towards the end of 2013 he was starting to hir the ball really well to right field and struggled with it last year. He's back at it, not just base hits in front of the right fielder but gap shots to right-center and really driving the ball and staying to the middle of the field when he gets a pitch elevated or something off-speed, he's able to pull it out of the ballpark."
Three-peat: San Francisco put the game on ice with three consecutive two-out hits in the seventh -- an RBI double by Belt, Justin Maxwell's run-scoring double up the third-base line and Brandon Crawford's RBI single to left. All three hits came off Lorenzen and widened a 6-2 gap to 9-2.
Video: SF@CIN: Maxwell doubles to left, extends Giants' lead
FIRE IN SMOKESTACKS
During the top of the sixth inning, one of the Great American Ball Park smokestacks in right-center field malfunctioned and caught fire, causing a section of seats to be evacuated as the game continued without interruption. There were no injuries reported. During the top of the seventh inning, the Cincinnati Fire Department used ladders to reach the blaze and put it out as 39,867 fans in attendance cheered. The Reds later revealed that failed propane line caused the blaze. More >
Video: SF@CIN: Firefighters put out fire, get applauded
"I've seen some weird things -- the lights shutting off one time and some other funky stuff," Price said. "I don't think I've ever seen a smokestack on fire in the middle of a ballgame. I guess they handled it OK. Obviously, it wasn't a huge concern for safety or I'm sure they would have done something differently."
Video: SF@CIN: A fire starts in the right smokestack at GABP
WHAT'S NEXT
Giants: The four-game series in Cincinnati continues Saturday at 4:10 p.m. PT. Three-time All-Star right fielder Hunter Pence is expected to be activated from the disabled list and be in the Giants' lineup. That is good news for San Francisco starter Ryan Vogelsong, who has allowed just one earned run over his two most recent starts.
Reds: Mike Leake will get the start for Cincinnati at 7:10 p.m. ET as he tries to continue a strong run of recent pitching. Leake has given up only one earned run in 22 innings over his last three starts. In his last six starts vs. the Giants, he is 5-1 with a 1.91 ERA.
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