San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Joey Votto homered twice and drove in the winning run in the 12th inning to lift Cincinnati to a wild 12-11 win over San Francisco, as the Reds salvaged the final game of a high-scoring three- game set between the two playoff hopefuls.
Cincinnati coughed up a nine-run lead and had to score in the ninth to force extra innings and avoid being swept by the Giants for the first time since May 3-5, 2002.
Votto finished with four hits and four runs batted in and Paul Janish went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Jonny Gomes andRyan Hanigan also homered for the Reds, who temporarily pushed their lead over St. Louis in the NL Central to three games.
Barry Zito (8-9), making just his second career relief appearance, was the last of eight pitchers and yielded the game-winning run during his lone inning of work, as the Giants fell six games behind San Diego in the NL West and one- half game behind Philadelphia in the NL Wild Card chase.