CINCINNATI _ The pitch that Braves rookie Tyrell Jenkins delivered to Reds slugger Jay Bruce didn't look like a mistake. It crossed the outer part of the plate low in the strike zone but Bruce lifted it out of the ballpark for a two-run homer in the first inning.
Neither did that early strike portend a short night for Jenkins in his second career start. He made it through six innings and Gordon Beckham's home run put him in line for a win before Braves right-hander Jim Johnson blew the save in the ninth.
The Braves came back again and won, 5-4, on Ender Inciarte's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning. The Braves (33-61) evened the season series 3-3 against the Reds (35-59) and look to win it in Wednesday's final meeting.
Nick Markakis started the rally with a leadoff single in the 11th against Reds lefty Tony Cingrani. He went to third on Jeff Francoeur's single against right-hander Blake Wood and scored when Inciarte hit a fly ball to deep center field.
Beckham hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Braves held that 4-2 lead until the ninth. Johnson allowed a leadoff single to Eugenio Suarez and Ramon Cabrera followed with a double. Tucker Barnhart's ground out scored a run and then Zack Cozart's RBI single tied the game 4-4.
Speedy Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton followed with an infield single, prompting Braves interim manager Brian Snitker to call on lefty reliever Hunter Cervenka. Cervenka caught Hamiltion trying to steal second to end the inning.
The Braves had a scoring chance in the 10th when third baseman Adonis Garcia singled with one out but Cingrani picked him off first base. Snitker went out to argue the play with umpire Angel Hernandez _ it appeared Cingrani balked _ and Hernandez ejected Snitker.
Jenkins recovered from Bruce's home run and worked around four walks and a hit batter to keep the Braves in the game. It had to be an encouraging sign for the Braves as they try to determine if Jenkins can be a rotation mainstay in the future.
The Braves answered Bruce's homer with two unearned runs in the second inning against Reds left-hander Cody Reed. Right-hander Michael Lorenzen replaced Reed for the seventh and walked Erick Aybar and struck out Jace Peterson before Beckham hit a first-pitch slider out of the park for his fourth homer of the season.
That put Jenkins in line for the win but the bullpen couldn't make it hold up. Dario Alvarez and Chris Withrow combined to hold the Reds scoreless in the seventh and eighth before Johnson blew his third save in five chances this season.
Jenkins needed just six pitches to retire the first two batters he faced, Cozart and Hamilton. He had a 0-1 count on Reds slugger Joey Votto before throwing three straight balls and then walking him with a full count.
Bruce hit a 3-1 fastball that was down in the zone but over the middle of plate for an opposite field homer. The next batter, Adam Duvall walked on six pitches. Jenkins retired Brandon Phillips on a fielder's choice to end the inning but what once looked to be a clean inning on a few pitches turned into a 2-0 deficit after 26 pitches.
Jenkins never pitched a clean inning but he managed to get out of jams.
The Braves tied the game in second inning with an assist from Reds fielding blunders and a fortuitous bounce.
Nick Markakis led off with a single and Inciarte reached on an error by third baseman Suarez. Reed walked Anthony Recker on four pitches to get to Aybar, who smacked a line drive that caromed off of Reed into right field and scored Markakis. Inciarte scored when Bruce bobbled the ball while trying to pick it up.
