CINCINNATI -- The Brewers and Reds rewarded those who stayed through a two-hour, 22-minute rain delay with a thrilling ending.
Elly De La Cruz, Tyler Stephenson and Matt McLain belted solo home runs and Tony Santillan (3-4) got out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning with only one run scoring to lead the Reds past the Brewers, 5-3, on Saturday night before 32,778 at Great American Ball Park. Emilio Pagán pitched a scoreless ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances.
After William Contreras belted his 14th homer of the season off Cincinnati's lefty starter Andrew Abbott in the first, De La Cruz celebrated his bobblehead night by clubbing a Dustin May 0-2 fastball a Statcast-projected 438 feet to the center-field berm to tie the game.
Eugenio Suárez showed a slick glove at third, including a backhanded stab of a Cooper Pratt grounder in the second inning.
Sal Stewart was at the heart of a Brewers rally in the third that gave the visitors a 2-1 lead. David Hamilton reached on a single when he beat out the throw from Stewart to Abbott covering. Abbott had Hamilton picked off, but Stewart’s throw to De La Cruz sailed into left field, allowing Hamilton to reach third. Hamilton then scored on Luis Lara's groundout to Stewart.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Reds put runners on the corners on singles by JJ Bleday and Suárez. Then two spells of torrential rain hit GABP, causing the grounds crew to recover the field after cleaning it for 20 minutes. The two storm cells forced the game to be delayed a total of two hours, 22 minutes.
Once the game resumed at 10:03 p.m. ET, Jose Trevino singled Bleday home to tie the game.
Stephenson put the Reds on top with a towering homer off reliever DL Hall to left in the sixth, his 15th, before the Brewers loaded the bases against Santillan in the seventh with no outs. Jackson Chourio’s sacrifice fly tied the game before McLain homered to right in the seventh against Aaron Ashby (13-3) for his 15th of the season and a 4-3 lead.
In the eighth, after hitting a one-out double, Suárez scored from second on Grant Anderson's wild pitch to give Cincinnati an insurance run before Pagán got the ball in the ninth.