CINCINNATI _ Giants manager Bruce Bochy doesn't have many fond memories at Great American Ball Park, but the ones he does enjoy involve catcher Buster Posey.
With the Giants trailing 4-1 on Sunday, Posey launched a two-out, three-run home run to cap off a four-run sixth-inning rally. After starting the day on the bench, Brandon Crawford delivered his second career pinch-hit home run with a two-run shot in the top of the ninth to drive in Posey and send the Giants home as 6-5 winners.
Seven years after Posey blasted a grand slam off Reds pitcher Mat Latos in Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS, Posey crushed a fastball 400 feet into the right center field seats to tie Sunday's game against former Giants prospect Luis Castillo.
Crawford hit his first home run of the season and first in 129 at-bats as the ball landed three-quarters of the way up the right field bleachers. Closer Will Smith allowed a solo home run to pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer, but recovered and recorded his ninth save of the year while San Francisco completed its second comeback victory of at least four runs in three days.
The Giants traded Castillo to the Marlins in a deal that brought Casey McGehee to San Francisco to replace Pablo Sandoval as the team's starting third baseman after Sandoval departed for Boston in free agency. Castillo had never pitched above Low-A Augusta and was not considered a top prospect, but he's now a critical part of Cincinnati's rotation and the reigning National League Pitcher of the Month.
Castillo hoped to continue an impressive run as he opened Sunday's game by tossing 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before Giants right fielder Steven Duggar broke up the right-hander's bid for history with a single through the left side of the infield. Duggar advanced to second on a walk from pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt and came around to score the Giants' first run on a single from second baseman Joe Panik.
With two outs and the Giants down by three, Posey stunned the home crowd with his first opposite field home run since June 22, 2017 when he hit a 311-foot flyball that barely cleared the right field wall at SunTrust Park against Braves pitcher Jaime Garcia.
The Giants became the first team to score more than two runs against Castillo this year as he entered Sunday's start leading all qualified major league pitchers in ERA at 1.45. Posey's home run also took Giants starter Jeff Samardzija off the hook for the loss after Samardzija salvaged a brutal first inning with four consecutive no-hit innings to end his day.
Samardzija allowed five first inning hits including home runs on three consecutive pitches to Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich. The right-hander became the first Giants starter to allow back-to-back-to-back homers since Brett Tomko did it against Adrian Beltre, Juan Encarnacon and David Ross of the Dodgers on April 18, 2004 in San Francisco.
Both Winker and Dietrich hit their home runs farther than 400 feet, but Suarez's two-run shot to open the scoring barely snuck over the glove of Duggar who leapt to rob the ball along the wall in the right field corner.
Samardzija had allowed just three combined home runs in his first six starts of the year before the Reds exploded for three in the first on Sunday. While his ERA climbed nearly half a point, Samardzija's 3.16 ERA through seven starts remains the best of all Giants starters.
