Giants use offensive explosion to crush Reds

Baseball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pablo Sandoval homered twice and joined Andres Torres with four RBI each, as San Francisco pounded Cincinnati, 16-5, in the second of three games at AT&T Park.

Sandoval pounded two of the game's seven home runs and finished with three of the Giants' 18 hits. Torres went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, Buster Posey hit a three-run home run and Juan Uribe hit a two-run home run and scored twice.

Freddy Sanchez joined in the party with four hits, one a solo shot, and four runs scored. Santiago Casilla (5-2) pitched two scoreless frames to pick up the win for the Giants, who have won two in a row and moved into a tie with Philadelphia for the National League wild-card lead. The Phillies lost, 4-2, to Houston in 16 innings on Tuesday.

Brandon Phillips hit two solo home runs and Scott Rolen belted a two-run shot for the Reds, who have dropped the first two tests of this series but still lead St. Louis by 2 1/2 games in the National League Central race after the Cardinals dropped a 4-3 decision to Pittsburgh.

Travis Wood (4-2) gave up seven runs on seven hits in four frames, but the hurler who replaced him, Mike Leake, only retired one batter while giving up six runs on six hits.

Jonathan Sanchez didn't get through the fifth inning and gave up five runs on six hits with six strikeouts, three walks and three homers allowed in 4 1/3 frames.

The Giants began their scoring onslaught right out of the gate with a Torres leadoff single. After two outs, Pat Burrell walked and Cody Ross drove in Torres with a single to left. Both runners moved up one base on the throw home and Sandoval drove them both in with a single to left.

Freddy Sanchez's solo shot in the second made it a 4-0 game before the Reds chopped the deficit in half over their next two at-bats. Phillips drilled a solo shot to left-center field in the third and Joey Votto singled, stole second and came around to score on Ramon Hernandez's base hit in the fourth.

The Giants stopped the visitor's momentum with a three-spot in the home fourth. Uribe singled, Freddy Sanchez walked and each runner moved up one base on Hernandez's throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Torres drove both runners home with a single to right, and Aubrey Huff's two-out single scored the speedster for a 7-2 edge.

Cincinnati came back with three runs of its own, beginning with Phillips second home run of the game out to left. Drew Stubbs hit a ground-rule double and moved to third on Votto's fly out. Rolen then drove his 19th home run of the season out to left-center for a 7-5 game.

The back-and-forth slugfest continued in San Francisco's turn at the plate, as the home team hit Leake for six runs. Ross singled and Sandoval's 30th double of the campaign scored the team's eighth run in front of Uribe's two-run home run to left. Sanchez then doubled and Nate Schierholtz walked before Posey deposited a pitch over the wall in center, a three-run shot that opened a 13-5 game.

Sandoval drove his second round-tripper of the game out to right-center field in the sixth then Sanchez started a two-out flurry with a single to center. Schierholtz singled to right and Torres drove both runners home with a double to right for a 16-5 game.

Game Notes

Wood had won four straight road starts with a 2.63 ERA over that stretch before Tuesday's game...The Reds have still won four of their past seven visits to San Francisco...Phillips now has 16 home runs on the season and Rolen has 19...Sanchez hit his third homer of the campaign, while Uribe clubbed his 16th, Posey his 10th and Sandoval his 10 and 11th of the season...Sandoval was a triple away from the cycle.