Giants Fall To Reds In Return From Rough Road Trip
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- The Giants had the best record in baseball heading into the All-Star break. Since then, it's been mostly downhill for manager Bruce Bochy's ballclub.
Coming off its worst road trip of the season, San Francisco rediscovered its power stroke in its return to AT&T Park with a pair of big home runs from Brandon Belt and Angel Pagan. That still wasn't enough to keep the slumping Giants from losing for the eighth time in nine games.
Jay Bruce hit a pair of two-run homers to help Anthony DeSclafani remain unbeaten, and the Cincinnati Reds beat San Francisco 7-5 on Monday night.
The loss trimmed the Giants' lead to 2 1/2 games in the NL West, their slimmest advantage since May 18.
"These ruts are tough things you get into," Bochy said. "The long ball is hurting us right now, there's no getting around that. They have a lot of power in that club. If you make a mistake, there's a chance you'll pay for it."
Brandon Belt and Angel Pagan homered for San Francisco. Belt finished with three hits, one more than he had on the Giants' entire road trip when they dropped seven of eight games.
"Looking back over the past few days, I was too anxious -- swinging before I saw what the ball was and what kind of pitch it was," Belt said. "You just have to find some way to get it back. I was able to do that tonight."
Eugenio Suarez also homered and Joey Votto doubled and scored twice for the Reds.
Bruce homered for the third consecutive game as part of a four-run fourth inning. He added his second of the night in the sixth to put the Reds up 6-5 and chase Giants starter Jake Peavy (5-9).
It was the third multihomer game this season for the Cincinnati slugger and 20th of his career.
Peavy allowed six runs over five-plus innings. Of the 15 home runs he's given up this season, seven have come against the Reds.
"I don't know why I went away from what was successful there in those first few innings," Peavy said. "The start in Cincinnati, I was reeling at that point of time trying to find anything that would work. (Tonight) all the balls were out over the plate."
STREAKING AT HOME
The Giants announced a crowd of 42,147, marking the 455th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park and tying the Cleveland Indians for the second-longest streak in major league history. The Boston Red Sox, with a sellout streak of 794, hold the longest run in the majors.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Reds: RHP Homer Bailey (Tommy John surgery) threw 98 pitches over 4 1/3 innings for Triple-A Louisville in what is expected to be his final minor league rehab start. He last pitched in the majors on April 23, 2015. ... RHP Tim Adelman (strained left oblique) will make another rehab start with Louisville on Tuesday.
Giants: 2B Joe Panik (concussion) will resume his rehab stint with Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday. Bochy indicated that Panik could potentially rejoin the big league club during its current homestand. ... OF Hunter Pence (strained right hamstring) is also rehabbing with Sacramento.
UP NEXT
Reds: Cody Reed (0-4) faces the Giants for the first time in his career Tuesday.
Giants: RHP Matt Cain (1-6) tries to snap out of his biggest slump of the season. Cain hasn't made it past the fourth inning since he last won on May 21.
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