A two-run homer by Hector Rodriguez, one of three longballs by Cincinnati, helped the visiting Reds beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 on Thursday in the rubber game of their three-game series.
Rodriguez clubbed a 423-foot homer, his sixth, to right field against A.J. Smith-Shawver (0-3) in the sixth inning to give the Reds the lead for good. Rodriguez had a team-high two hits and scored a pair of runs.
Elly De La Cruz added his 30th homer and Carlos Jorge hit his first career homer.
The winning pitcher was Connor Phillips (2-0), who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Closer Emilio Pagan allowed a runner to reach third base but struck out Ozzie Albies and got Mike Yastrzemski to fly out to earn his 25th save.
The win allowed Cincinnati (74-85) to tie the season series against Atlanta (93-66) at 3 wins apiece.
Cincinnati starter Brady Singer worked three innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out one. Atlanta right-hander Tyler Mahle threw five innings and gave up five runs on six hits and two walks, striking out four in his worst outing since being acquired from San Francisco at the trade deadline.
Jorge got the Reds on the board with a solo shot to lead off the game. It was the second straight night Cincinnati started the game with a home run.
Atlanta put up four runs in the bottom of the first. Matt Olson had a sacrifice fly, Michael Harris II followed with an RBI double, Albies delivered a run-scoring single and Austin Riley added a sacrifice fly.
The Reds got a run back in the second inning on Matt McClain’s RBI single, then took a 5-4 lead by scoring three times in the third. De La Cruz’s homer was followed by Eugenio Suarez’s two-run single.
Atlanta tied the game with a run in the third on Riley’s solo homer, his 19th, and took a 6-5 lead in the fifth on Yastrzemski’s RBI single.
