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Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings May 13, 2017 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 2012-Joey Votto hits a game-ending grand slam off the Nationals Henry Rodriguez, adding to his two solo home runs, becoming the last Red to hit three home runs in one game, matching a club record MLB.COM Reds lose in 17th on Posey's homer By Chris Biderman and Michael Wagaman / Special to MLB.com | 4:21 AM ET + 93 COMMENTS SAN FRANCISCO -- Buster Posey hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch he saw from Cincinnati reliever Robert Stephenson in the bottom of the 17th inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 win over Cincinnati on Friday night in a game that lasted more than five hours and ended at 12:43 a.m. PT. Denard Span homered for the second straight day and drove in two runs, Eduardo Nunez added two hits and scored, and Cory Gearrin -- the last available reliever in the Giants bullpen -- pitched two innings for the win. San Francisco had not scored since tying the game in the fifth and only advanced one runner past first base for eight innings before Posey's one-out homer to left. The Giants catcher knew it immediately, too, and flipped his bat before taking off to round the bases for San Francisco's second walk-off win of the season. Denard Span crushes a solo home run over the right-field wall and into McCovey Cove, giving the Giants an early 1-0 lead The home run measured 431 feet, Posey's longest of the Statcast™ era. "Those kind of games, they're must-win," Gearrin said. "You go out there and you battle for that long, a lot of guys put a lot of time and a lot of energy into that game, so to come out with a win is huge. To walk it off like that, with Buster going deep, just kind of seals it for us." Cincinnati was blanked over the final 15 innings and wasted a strong outing from its bullpen. "To play 17 and lose, it's a lot different feeling over in the Giants clubhouse than there is in ours," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "Both teams had an awful lot of opportunities to win that game. And no one could come up with the big hit until Posey did there in the bottom of the 17th." Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision despite strong outings from both. Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto gave up two runs and had six strikeouts over eight innings while throwing a season-high 119 pitches but remained winless against his former club. Scott Feldman of the Reds, who blanked the Giants on four hits May 2, allowed two runs in seven innings. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Missed opportunities: The Reds missed a prime scoring opportunity the top of the 14th after Scott Schebler and Scooter Gennett opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice before Jose Peraza hit a grounder to Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who was playing in. Crawford bobbled the ball briefly then fired a strike to home plate where Posey made a sweeping tag on Schebler for the out. A few moments later, pitcher Bryan Morris wheeled and picked off Gennett trying to scramble back to second base. San Francisco also worked out of a base-loaded situation in the 16th and a two-on, two-out jam in the 17th. "That pickoff worked well," Morris said. "I felt like [Gennett] was kind of asleep and Brandon felt the same way obviously, so he just back-picked him and I was ready for it." Small ball: San Francisco took advantage of the speed at the bottom of its lineup and the way Cincinnati was playing back on defense to score the tying run in the fifth. Nunez laid down a picture-perfect bunt near the third-base line and Justin Ruggiano followed with a bunt of his own almost in the same spot. Cueto then nearly reached on a sacrifice bunt before Span hit an RBI single. SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The 17 innings were the second-most played in the history of AT&T Park. The only game that lasted longer came on May 29, 2001, when the Giants lost to Arizona, 1-0, in 18 innings. WHAT'S NEXT Reds: The Reds will send right-hander Lisalverto Bonilla (0-0, 7.20 ERA) to the hill Saturday to make his first Major League start since 2014 with the Rangers. Saturday will mark his second big league stint this season after a five-inning relief appearance in April. Bonilla had a 5.61 ERA in five starts with Triple-A Louisville and will be Cincinnati's ninth starter used in 2017. First pitch Saturday is 4:05 ET. Giants: Left-hander Matt Moore (1-4, 6.52 ERA) will take another stab at getting his season back on track when he faces the Reds for the first time in his career in the third game of this series beginning at 1:05 PT. Moore has been hit hard most of the year, having allowed five runs or more in four of his seven starts. Chris Biderman is a contributor to MLB.com and covered the Reds on Friday. Michael Wagaman is a contributor to MLB.com based in the Bay Area. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Hamilton, bullpen dinged up in loss to Giants By Chris Biderman / Special to MLB.com | 5:12 AM ET + 7 COMMENTS SAN FRANCISCO -- Reds manager Bryan Price won't have long to figure out how his roster is going to shape up after losing in 17 innings, 3-2, to the Giants in a five-hour, 28-minute marathon Friday night. His leadoff man, Billy Hamilton, who had his eight-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-7 night, tweaked his calf late in the game and is uncertain for Saturday afternoon. "I don't if it was a cramp or strain of the calf. That's something we'll kind of define here now that the game's over," Price said. "And we'll see. I don't know if we'll be able to write up the lineup until tomorrow." Hamilton struck out with the bases loaded in the top of the 15th with the game knotted and looked hampered by the injury to his right leg. He stayed in the game and was immediately tested by a deep fly ball from Justin Ruggiano in the bottom of the inning. He scampered back to the center-field wall to make the play, but looked like he was in considerable pain as he threw the ball back in. He stayed in the game while Cincinnati didn't have any position players left on the bench. On the pitching front, Price used six of his eight relievers, leaving two fresh arms available when the two teams take the field again just over 12 hours after Buster Posey ended the night with a walk-off home run to give San Francisco the win. "There's a lot of activity today," Price said. "We'll have to come back in a few hours and be back here and get everybody kind of warmed up again and see what they have in the tank." The night started off looking promising for Price's bullpen with starter Scott Feldman going seven innings while allowing just two runs. But he was matched by Giants starter Johnny Cueto, who threw eight innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. The two pitchers that didn't throw were Raisel Iglesias and Barrett Astin. Iglesias got the save Thursday while Astin last pitched Monday against the Yankees when he allowed a pair of homers. Price needed multi-inning efforts from three relievers -- Blake Wood, Austin Brice and Robert Stephenson -- and had Wandy Peralta and Drew Storen pitch for the second straight game. The Reds will hope to get a strong performance from Lisalverto Bonilla (0-0, 7.20 ERA), who's making his first Major League start since 2014. He compiled a 5.61 ERA in five starts this season for Triple-A Louisville and allowed four runs in five innings of relief during his only appearance with the Reds on April 22. Chris Biderman is a contributor to MLB.com and covered the Reds on Friday. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Bonilla to face Giants in first Reds start By Chris Biderman / Special to MLB.com | May 12th, 2017 + 5 COMMENTS The Reds will send Lisalverto Bonilla (0-0, 7.20 ERA) to the hill Saturday to make his first big league start since 2014. The Giants will counter with Matt Moore (1-4, 6.52). Bonilla, 26, has started five games for Triple-A Louisville, going 2-2 with a 5.61 ERA. He was called up to replace Rookie Davis, who was sent down after allowing 18 runs (16 earned) in 19 innings in the Reds rotation. Bonilla last pitched for Cincinnati on April 22, throwing five innings of relief and allowing four runs to the Cubs. Saturday marks the start of his second big league stint this season. Moore, 27, has allowed 12 runs over his last two starts. His 1.55 WHIP is the highest of his career. He's never pitched against the Reds after starting his career with the Rays in 2011.