Giants stop Reds cold
San Francisco’s Hunter Pence hit a double against Cincinnati in the seventh inning of Thursday’s win.
CINCINNATI >> Juan Perez hasn’t gotten many at-bats in the majors. He didn’t need a whole lot of experience to know what was coming this time. Left-hander Tony Cingrani was going to throw a first-pitch fastball.
The young outfielder got it and hit it out.
Perez and Michael Morse homered with two outs in the sixth inning on Wednesday night, rallying the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 victory that ended the Cincinnati Reds’ longest winning streak of the season at four games.
San Francisco won for the 10th time in 13 games, improving the best record in the majors to 38-21.
Morse hit a solo shot and Perez had a two-run homer off Cingrani (2-6), who has lost all of his four starts since returning from shoulder tendinitis.
Cingrani relies on his fastball — he threw it 81.7 percent of the time last season, second-most in the majors — and threw one to Perez to start the game-changing at-bat. Perez, making only his fourth start this season, was ready to swing.
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"I was looking for a fastball in and I got a fastball down the middle," Perez said.
Perez is in his second stint with the Giants this season. He was only 1-for-21 heading into the game on Wednesday, struggling to adapt to his limited playing time.
"He’s probably had the toughest job of anybody since he’s been here because he doesn’t get many starts," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Their guy shut us down. He’s got a good, live fastball. He was throwing very well. So Perez came through for us."
Ryan Vogelsong (4-2) extended his recent streak of solid pitching by giving up two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings while fanning a career-high nine. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in his last four starts.
"I just really kept doing what I was doing," Vogelsong said. "I felt the stuff was there, I just need to keep making pitches."
It was a rare win in Cincinnati for the Giants, who had lost 11 of their last 12 at Great American Ball Park during the regular season. San Francisco won all three there while taking the division playoff series in 2012.
Joe Kay, Associated Press
