The San Francisco Giants entered their matchup with the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon looking to avoid being swept at the Great American Ballpark for the second straight time. Despite trailing into the ninth the Giants refused to quit as Angel Pagan's three-run jack would lead San Francisco to the 6-5 win, effectively avoiding the sweep.
Ryan Vogelsong was steady but not dominant in his six innings pitched, giving up four earned runs on seven hits along with two walks and five strikeouts in just 87 pitches. He gave up two runs in the second with a Devin Mesoraco RBI sacrifice fly and a Homer Bailey RBI single, but it was Jay Bruce's two-run jack in the sixth that would eventually seal Vogelsong's fate.
Brandon Belt and Ryan Theriot got the Giants on the board in the fourth, slaping an RBI single and sacrifice fly respectfully, then Gregor Blanco's sacrifice fly got the Giants within one run in the seventh made it 4-3. That knocked Homer Bailey out of the game, finishing after 6.1 innings with seven hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
Guillermo Mota came in for the bottom of the seventh, immediately giving up a home run to Scott Rolen to make it 5-3, his second dinger in two days. Logan Ondrusek held the Giants in check for 1.2 innings,
Joaquin Arias walked and Ryan Theriot singled to start the rally in the ninth for the Giants, setting up Angel Pagan to play the hero, launching a three-run shot off closer Sean Marshall to give the Giants the first lead of the day 6-5.
Santiago Casilla struck out the Reds 1-2-3 hitters to finish the game, earning his second save of the season.
Pablo Sandoval extending his hit streak to 19 straight to start the season, a new Giants franchise record, while Joaquin Arias was 2-3 in his first start of the season. It was also the first win for San Francisco in Cincy since the summer on 2010.
The Giants return to AT&T Park Friday for the start of a three game set against the San Diego Padres with AAA call up Erick Hacker making his first start for the Black and Orange.
Ful box score can be found here.
For more on the Giants, please check out McCovey Chronicles. For the Reds side of the street, head on over to the Red Reporter.
