Austin Hays homers twice, as Reds beat Rockies

Austin Hays hit a pair of solo homers Saturday afternoon, including the tie-breaking shot in the sixth inning that lifted the visiting Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies in the middle game of a three-game series.

Noelvi Marte hit a two-run homer in the first for the Reds, who won their third straight game to improve to 5-3 on a road trip that ends Sunday. Michael Toglia and Adael Amador homered and combined for all four RBIs for the Rockies, who suffered their fifth straight loss to fall to a major league-worst 4-22 -- the worst 26-game start in franchise history.

Hays homered off Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela (1-4) leading off the fourth and sixth. The two-homer game was the seventh of Hays' career and his first since June 3, 2024, when he went deep twice for the Baltimore Orioles off Kevin Gausman in a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hays, who didn't make his Reds debut until Apr. 15 due to a calf strain, finished 2-for-4 as he raised his average to .386 in 11 games.

Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer each had RBI singles in the ninth. TJ Friedl finished with three hits while De La Cruz, Steer and Gavin Lux all had two hits.

Hunter Greene (3-2) earned the win for the Reds after allowing three runs on seven hits -- including Toglia's two-run homer in the second and Amador's first big league blast in the fifth -- and no walks while striking out eight over six innings.

Scott Barlow and Alexis Diaz each tossed a hitless inning before Emilio Pagan earned his seventh save despite giving up a run in the ninth, when he walked Nick Martini with two outs and gave up Amador's double before he struck out Brenton Doyle.

Amador had a career-high three hits after entering Saturday 3-for-24 in his first 10 games this season. Toglia and Hunter Goodman each added two hits.

Senzatela gave up four runs on eight hits and no walks while striking out four over five-plus innings.

--Field Level Media