San Francisco • The Cincinnati Reds rode a patchwork pitching staff to their first postseason win in 17 years — after losing their ace, no less.
Sam LeCure, Mat Latos and three other pitchers shut down San Francisco after Johnny Cueto went out in the first inning with a back injury, and the Cincinnati Reds were powered by home runs from Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce to beat the Giants 5-2 in Game 1 of the NL division series Saturday night.
Reds 5, Giants 2
Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
B.Phillips 2b 5 1 3 3 0 0 .600
Cozart ss 4 0 1 0 0 2 .250
Votto 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .000
Ludwick lf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .000
1-Heisey pr-lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Bruce rf 4 1 2 1 0 0 .500
Rolen 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Hanigan c 4 1 1 0 0 0 .250
Stubbs cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .250
Cueto p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
LeCure p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
a-H.Bailey ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Latos p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
c-Cairo ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Marshall p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
e-Paul ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000
A.Chapman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Totals 35 5 9 4 2 9
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Pagan cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 .200
Scutaro 2b 4 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Sandoval 3b 5 0 1 0 0 0 .200
Posey c 5 1 2 1 0 2 .400
Pence rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Belt 1b 2 0 0 0 2 0 .000
G.Blanco lf 3 0 2 0 1 1 .667
B.Crawford ss 2 0 0 0 1 1 .000
f-Arias ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000
M.Cain p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-A.Huff ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Kontos p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
d-Theriot ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Mota p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
S.Casilla p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
g-Nady ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 ---
Totals 34 2 7 1 6 5
Cincinnati 002 100 002 — 5 9 1
San Francisco 000 001 001 — 2 7 0
a-struck out for LeCure in the 3rd. b-flied out for M.Cain in the 5th. c-flied out for Latos in the 7th. d-grounded out for Kontos in the 7th. e-singled for Broxton in the 9th. f-singled for B.Crawford in the 9th. g-walked for S.Casilla in the 9th.
1-ran for Ludwick in the 8th.
E—Rolen (1).
LOB—Cincinnati 6, San Francisco 11. 2B—Bruce (1), G.Blanco (1). HR—B.Phillips (1), off M.Cain Bruce (1), off M.Cain Posey (1), off Latos. RBIs—B.Phillips 3 (3), Bruce (1), Posey (1).
Runners left in scoring position—Cincinnati 4 (Hanigan, Ludwick, Bruce, Cozart) San Francisco 5 (M.Cain 2, G.Blanco, Posey 2). RISP—Cincinnati 1 for 6 San Francisco 0 for 5.
Runners moved up—Votto, Rolen. GIDP—Ludwick.
DP—Cincinnati 1 (Votto) San Francisco 1 (Scutaro, B.Crawford, Belt).
Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Cueto 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 0.00
LeCure W, 1-0 12⁄3 1 0 0 2 1 0.00
Latos 4 4 1 1 1 1 2.25
Marshall H, 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Broxton H, 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0.00
A.Chapman 1 1 1 1 2 1 9.00
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO ERA
M.Cain L, 0-1 5 5 3 3 1 4 5.40
Kontos 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.00
Mota 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 0.00
Affeldt 2⁄3 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
S.Casilla 1 3 2 1 0 3 9.00
Inherited runners-scored—Affeldt 1-0. IBB—off LeCure (B.Crawford), off Affeldt (Ludwick). HBP—by M.Cain (Cozart). WP—A.Chapman 2, S.Casilla. PB—Posey.
Umpires—Home, Phil Cuzzi First, Brian O’Nora Second, Gerry Davis Third, Dan Iassogna Right, Chad Fairchild Left, Tom Hallion.
T—3:27. A—43,492 (41,915).
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Phillips hit a two-run homer in the third, and Bruce added a solo drive leading off the fourth as the Reds overcame the departure of their 19-game winner after just eight pitches.
Aroldis Chapman gave up a run in the ninth on a wild pitch but struck out Buster Posey with a 100 mph fastball to end it with runners on second and third.
San Francisco’s Matt Cain allowed his first career postseason earned runs after going untouched during the Giants’ improbable World Series season of 2010.
That same year, Cincinnati was swept out of the first round by the Phillies, getting no-hit by Roy Halladay. This time, the Reds clobbered Cain and played on with poise when Cueto got hurt. Phillips, who made the final out of Halladay’s no-no, added an RBI single in the ninth for his third hit and the Reds scored another on a passed ball.
"I was just trying to make things happen for the team," Phillips said. "We really believe in our team. Johnny is the type of person that we really need."
Reds skipper Dusty Baker earned an emotional win in his return to AT&T Park for the playoffs 10 years after managing the Giants within six outs of a World Series title before losing to the wild-card Angels. He’s also back on the top step of the dugout after rejoining the team this week following an 11-game absence while recovering from a mini-stroke and irregular heartbeat.
Game 2 is Sunday night, with right-hander Bronson Arroyo (12-10) taking the ball for the Reds against San Francisco lefty Madison Bumgarner (16-11).
LeCure did his part to calm the team.
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The right-hander earned the win with 1 2-3 innings before Baker turned to 14-game winner Mat Latos, who was seemingly unfazed at being forced into early duty. He allowed a home run to Posey during his four innings, but San Francisco managed little else against one of baseball’s best bullpens.
The Reds set a club record this year as all five starters made it through the season without getting injured — and they used their sixth starter for a doubleheader.
Other Cincinnati clubs might not have had it in them to withstand losing a starter like Cueto. The Reds have had a tough go come playoff time.
But Baker has long been confident in the "fight" of this bunch, which already dealt with losing Ryan Madson and two other relievers before the season started.
The 63-year-old Baker was greeted by a rousing ovation during pregame introductions from an orange-towel-waving sellout crowd of 43,492. The main center-field scoreboard read "WELCOME BACK DUSTY GREAT TO SEE YOU BACK IN THE DUGOUT."
Baker has vowed this team is something special — "They love each other and they hang together," he said.
The Reds had dropped seven straight playoff games dating to 1995, when now-Nationals manager Davey Johnson and Cincinnati were swept in the NL championship series by Atlanta.
"I swear, I don’t know any of these numbers," Baker said when it came up before the game. "You can’t do anything about the last 17 years, whatever it is."
Latos began the third, going on three days’ rest, after pitching five innings Tuesday at St. Louis. While he had been set to go Game 3 on Tuesday in Cincinnati, the Reds said Cueto is day to day and certainly are hoping he’ll be ready later this series.
Posey homered to left leading off the sixth for San Francisco, drawing cheers of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" for the NL batting champion. It was his second career postseason home run and gave him a six-game postseason hitting streak dating to his 2010 Rookie of the Year season.
Cain was left to watch at that point, and he hardly looked happy visiting with manager Bruce Bochy in the dugout after being pulled before the bottom of the fifth for George Kontos.
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