Reds Lose to Giants on Hill’s Hit in 10th

SAN FRANCISCO — Glenallen Hill had a two-run, two-out single in the 10th inning and Rod Beck won for the first time since August, 1995 as the San Francisco Giants rallied to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, Sunday.

“I went up to the plate focused on hitting and not over swinging and just being in control,” Hill said. “As far as I was concerned, the pressure wasn’t on me. It was on [Brantley] and I happened to win this time.”

Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning when Barry Larkin’s grounder got past third baseman Bill Mueller for an error, allowing Deion Sanders to score from second.

Jeff Brantley (0-1) came on to try for his second save in as many days but loaded the bases when he walked Marvin Bernard and Barry Bonds, and hit Mueller with a pitch. He struck out Jeff Kent for the second out of the inning, but Hill then hit a blooper that fell in shallow right.

“It was a good pitch inside and that’s what good hitters get paid to do--hit the ball,” Cincinnati Manager Ray Knight said. “Jeff threw a lot of pitches under stress today. We weren’t even going to use him. You don’t see him walking two batters and hitting one in an inning. He’s still in a phase of getting sharp.”

Brantley agreed that Hill handled the bat well, connecting on his first pitch.

“It was right on his hands and he did a great job fighting it off,” Brantley said. “He got enough of the ball to knock it out of the infield.”

Beck (1-1), who pitched the 10th, had lost 11 consecutive decisions. Sanders drew a leadoff walk from Beck, then stole his major league-leading 20th base. After Terry Pendleton flied out, Larkin’s grounder took a bad bounce and rolled through Mueller’s legs.

Cincinnati had gotten a one-out double in the eighth from Pendleton and Larkin followed with a walk. But Doug Henry got Ruben Sierra to bounce into a fielder’s choice, and Rich Rodriguez got pinch-hitter Hal Morris to fly out.

NEXT SERIES FOR DODGERS

WHO: Cincinnati Reds

WHERE: Dodger Stadium

WHEN: Tonight 7 p.m., Tuesday 7 p.m., Wednesday 7:30 p.m.