Patrick Bailey singled home the tying run with two outs in the ninth and Wilmer Flores broke the tie one batter later with a three-run homer as the visiting San Francisco Giants rallied for a 6-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the season opener for both clubs on Thursday.
Tyler Rogers (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Ryan Walker gave up a run-scoring single to TJ Friedl before retiring Matt McLain on a fly ball just short of the wall in left to record the save.
Jeimer Candelario singled twice and drove in all three Cincinnati runs while starting pitcher Hunter Greene struck out eight in five innings to stake the Reds to an early 3-0 lead.
Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan combined to throw a scoreless inning apiece before Ian Gibaut came on for the save in the ninth but ran into a jam that he could escape after first-and-third with one out.
Gibaut (0-1) gave up the game-tying two-out single and the go-ahead homer and was charged with all four runs in the San Francisco ninth.
Cincinnati pitchers combined to strike out 17 San Francisco batters and allowed six hits in the loss.
Bailey’s two-out single in the ninth scored Jung Hoo Lee and tied the game, 3-3, before Flores launched the go-ahead shot to the seats in left.
Greene opened in overpowering form, striking out five of the first six batters he faced and retiring the first seven batters before Mike Yastrzemski lined a solid single to center with one out in the third. Greene allowed three hits and two runs over five innings, striking out eight and walking one on 84 pitches.
Giants starter Logan Webb was charged with three runs on six hits over his five innings, striking out five and walking three.
Heliot Ramos fouled off five straight pitches from Greene before driving the 11th pitch of the at-bat — a fastball — over the wall in right for a two-run homer that cut Cincinnati’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning. The ball landed in the first row of seats just beyond the reach of right fielder Jake Fraley.
The Reds and Giants, whose rivalry dates to the late 1800s, were meeting for just the fourth time on Opening Day. The Giants have won all four.
Weather conditions were not a major factor for Thursday’s game, the earliest calendar date opener for both clubs. The game-time temperature was 61 degrees under cloudy skies.
