Matt McLain homered, doubled and scored twice and Christian Encarnacion-Strand blasted a solo home run to break a sixth-inning tie as the Cincinnati Reds rallied past the visiting San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Elly De La Cruz and McLain did their damage at the plate and in the field for the Reds, who gave manager Terry Francona his first win in a Cincinnati uniform. Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft and Emilio Pagan each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Nick Lodolo (1-0), with Pagan earning the save.
Making his San Francisco debut, 42-year-old right-hander Justin Verlander was staked to a two-run lead but allowed two runs and six hits over five innings, striking out five and walking one while throwing 83 pitches in a no-decision.
Batting for the first time since his go-ahead three-run homer in the opener on Thursday, Wilmer Flores drove a Lodolo fastball into the seats in left with one out in the second for a 1-0 San Francisco lead. Jung Hoo Lee singled home Heliot Ramos an inning later for a 2-0 advantage.
McLain connected for Cincinnati’s first homer of the season, a two-out home run in the bottom of the third that snapped an 0-for-6 stretch to open the season.
Cincinnati tied the game in the fifth when McLain doubled to right-center with two outs. De La Cruz fell behind two strikes to Verlander before working the count even. De La Cruz then singled sharply to right, scoring McLain to even the score.
Spencer Bivens (0-1) relieved Verlander to start the sixth and yielded a one-out homer to Encarnacion-Strand just inside the right-field foul pole to put Cincinnati ahead 3-2.
The home run made a winner of Lodolo, who labored through the second and third innings before settling down to finish six innings, allowing just two runs on five hits, striking out one and walking none.
Shortstop De La Cruz and McLain, playing second base, combined for several impressive plays in the field, including in the sixth when De La Cruz traveled deep into the hole on a Flores grounder and started a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
McLain started a 4-6-3 double play an inning later behind Santillan and helped Ashcraft in the eighth by stepping on the bag and throwing to first for a 4-3 double play.
