SAN FRANCISCO – It was such a long and wild third-inning rally that Nick Senzel forgot he was supposed to be on deck for his second at-bat of the inning as Albert Almora Jr. hit a two-run single into left field.
"Luckily they had a pitching change," Senzel said, "because I didn’t have any of my stuff on. I was literally watching."
The Reds had eight consecutive batters reach base with two outs, sparking their biggest two-out rally in more than a decade. It was an eventful inning that featured a sacrifice bunt from Aramis Garcia and an RBI single from Garcia.
They went from playing for a lead with Tyler Mahle on the mound to a seven-run inning. The big inning carried the Reds to a 10-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants in their series finale at Oracle Park. It was the fifth time the Reds finished with a double-digit run total this season.
"Maybe one of the best innings of the year, if not the best inning," said Reds Manager David Bell, who was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the ninth inning. "It's tough to do all that with with two outs."
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Senzel started the big inning with an infield single because, of course, that was the precursor to a rally. He was standing on second base with two outs when the hit parade started against former Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani. Brandon Drury drilled an RBI triple. Tommy Pham, who heard boos all weekend from Giants fans, lined a pitch up the middle for an RBI single in a 0-2 count.
Joey Votto nearly ended the inning with a ground ball to first base, which first baseman Brandon Belt grabbed with his foot on the first-base bag, but it was ruled a foul ball. Giants players thought it was fair and manager Gabe Kapler briefly chatted with home-plate umpire Nestor Ceja about it.
On the next pitch, Votto lined an RBI double to right field and the inning kept snowballing for DeSclafani.
"That's what it takes sometimes," Bell said. "You get a break or whatever. I have no idea, I'm assuming that was a foul ball. But it was that close."
As the hits kept falling, Mahle went into the batting cage to stay loose and throw a few pitches. Matt Reynolds followed a walk with a double that bounced over the center-field wall, a ball that was badly misread by center fielder Austin Slater with the wind blowing out.
Almora lined a two-run single to left field to knock DeSclafani out of the game. Senzel followed with his second single of the inning before Aramis Garcia looped an RBI single into right field on a ball off the end of his bat.
It was an eight-hit, seven-run inning that ended with a botched double steal. It was the first time the Reds had seven two-out hits in an inning since July 4, 2010, against the Chicago Cubs, according to Bally Sports.
"We got punched in the mouth by Los Angeles," said Senzel, referencing the Reds' winless homestand last week. "Obviously, they were a good club and they took it to us pretty heavy. We knew we had to come in here and play clean baseball. If we did that, we believe we can beat anyone."
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The Reds added another three runs in the fifth inning with a two-out rally, aided by poor Giants infield defense. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, Senzel hit a groundball to Belt at first base.
Belt stumbled on his diving stop, but pitcher Jarlín García was slow off the mound. Senzel beat García to the bag by a few steps and Belt’s throw was behind García, the ball rolling to the Reds’ dugout. Reynolds scored from second base on the throwing error and Senzel moved up to second base because no Giants player picked up the loose ball near the dugout.
Senzel scored one batter later when Aramis Garcia lined a single into left field. Senzel finished the three-game series with six hits, four RBI, three runs and three stolen bases.
"That’s part of baseball," Senzel said as teammates around him noted he started wearing a headband during games. "It’s how you handle the failures and how you keep going, staying positive. You just have to keep plugging away at it. It’s nice to finally see some results out of it."
The Reds could play a factor in the National League West playoff race. They went a combined 0-13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, but they won four of their six games against the Giants to take the season series.
The seven-run third inning took away a lot of stress for Mahle, but he was dominant most of the afternoon. He pitched better than the box score showed, permitting three runs on four hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings.
"He commands his fastball as good as anyone I’ve seen," Senzel said.
Mahle struck out seven, overpowering hitters with elevated fastballs. Despite the lopsided score, he was constantly on the attack and threw a first-pitch strike to 19 of his first 21 hitters. There were only three hitters who reached a three-ball count.
The Reds, who have a better record on the road (13-24) than home (12-23) will play a three-game series against the Cubs after Monday's off day, and then they'll have a July schedule with 21 of their 27 games at home. It's the first time they play 21 home games in a month since Aug. 1984.
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