Mesoraco hits grand slam in Reds' win over Marlins

By foxsports
Published

CINCINNATI (AP) Devin Mesoraco hit his third grand slam of the season and drove in six runs, and the Cincinnati Reds salvaged the finale of a three-game series against the Miami Marlins with a 7-2 win on Sunday.

Brad Hand walked Todd Frazier with the bases loaded in the fifth to break a 2-all tie. Mesoraco followed with his second homer of the game and 20th of the season, a 371-foot drive into the left-field seats.

Mesoraco leads all major league catchers in home runs and the National League in grand slams. He is 6 for 7 (.857) with the bases loaded and is the sixth player in Reds' history to hit three slams in one season - the first since Chris Sabo in 1993.

The fifth-inning outburst gave Johnny Cueto (14-6) some breathing room. In eight innings, he allowed five hits - two homers - with two walks and nine strikeouts. He improved to 6-0 in his last seven starts.

Hand (2-4) allowed five hits and seven runs with three walks - all of them in the fifth - and two strikeouts.

Giancarlo Stanton, the NL's home run and RBI leader, lined his 29th homer with two outs in the first for a 1-0 Miami lead.

Right-fielder Jay Bruce made a leaping catch in the eighth to rob Stanton of a second homer.

Mesoraco, who drove in a career-high six runs, gave the Reds a 2-1 lead in the first with his first in 10 games since July 30, a 390-foot blast that bounced off the roof of the Cincinnati bullpen in left-center with Bruce on first and two outs.

Casey McGehee tied the game with his third homer of the year, a 383-foot shot to left with one out in the fourth.

ON DECK

Marlins: The Marlins, who took a series from St. Louis in early July for the first time since 2009, will try to make it two straight over the Cardinals. Their three-game set in Miami begins Monday with right-hander Tom Koehler taking the mound.

Reds: Right-hander Mat Latos tries to improve his career interleague record to 10-3 in 18 starts on Tuesday in the opener of a two-game home series against Boston.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Marlins: Slumping catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was hitting .184 (9 for 49) in his previous 17 games, got Sunday off.

Reds: Brayan Pena, Cueto's usual catcher, didn't start because of a tight left hamstring that forced him out of Friday's game after two innings and limited him to a pinch-hit appearance on Saturday.