The San Francisco Giants came to the Great American Ballpark off a double-header in New York, and an old NL West nemesis waiting from them in the Cincinnati Reds' Mat Latos. Despite another strong outing from Matt Cain, it would ultimately be Latos and the Reds coming out on top, pounding the Giants late in the game for the eventual 9-2victory.
The difference maker early in the evening came off the bat off Brandon Phillips in the first, launching his second homer of the season to give the Reds an early 2-0 advantage. That also ended Matt Cain's 18-inning scoreless streak he had been working on after his two previous starts.
Cain (L 1-1) lumbered through that 38 pitch first inning to shut down Cincinnati until the seventh, when Ryan Ludwick launched a solo shot to push the Reds ahead 3-0. Cain would depart after 6.1 innings with five hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts on 116 pitches on the night.
Rookie Dan Otero came in in relief, beaning Joey Votto in the leg to load the bases with two outs. Brandon Phillips drew a four pitch walk to make it 4-0, Jay Bruce broke it open with a two run double to make it 6-0, and it only got worse from there.
Scott Rolen backed it up with another two run double to make it 8-0, though skipper Bruce Bochy left the youngster out there for the bottom of the eighth to save his bullpen for later in the series. It would be 9-0 when Otero was all said and done, getting tagged for six runs on six hits 1.2 innings pitched.
The Giants offense couldn't get anything going against Latos (W 1-2), keeping the Giants scoreless on four hits in seven innings work, though Buster Posey launched his third homer of the season off Sam Lecure in the eighth to make it 9-2, only a few pitches after Lecure tried to hit Posey in retaliation of Otero hitting Votto.
Pablo Sandoval would score on Posey's jack after earning his 17 game hit streak to start the season with his last at bat, slapping a single to break the long standing record set by Willie Mays back in 1960.
Full box score can be found here.
The series continues on Wednesday as Barry Zito (1-0, 1.71) takes on righty Bronson Arroyo (1-0, 2.91), scheduled for another 4:10 p.m. PT start.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles. For the Reds side of things, check out the Red Reporter.