Will Benson’s blast leads Reds past Guardians

Will Benson hit a three-run home run and Brady Singer pitched five solid innings as the host Cincinnati Reds beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-4 on Friday.

Singer (5-2) threw 90 pitches and allowed three earned runs, three walks and a home run. He struck out four.

Emilio Pagan pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 10th save.

Guardians starter Tanner Bibee (3-4) gave up 10 hits in six innings, allowing five runs (four earned) and two home runs. He walked one and struck out four. Bo Naylor and Jose Ramirez homered for Cleveland.

The Reds opened the scoring in the second when Gavin Lux and Spencer Steer both connected on the first pitches they saw, Lux for a single and Steer for a double. After Tyler Stephenson struck out, Benson sent a 1-2 sweeper into the right field bleachers for a 3-0 Reds lead.

Matt McLain kept the inning going with a single to center. Santiago Espinal hit an infield single to shortstop that Gabriel Arias threw into the dugout, allowing McLain to score for a 4-0 Reds lead.

Austin Hays made it 5-0 in the third with a leadoff home run.

A great play by Guardians right fielder Will Brennan in the third kept Cincinnati from building a bigger lead.

After Hays' home run, Lux doubled to right and went to third on a groundout by Steer. Stephenson hit a long fly ball to right that Brennan caught as Lux tagged up. Brennan made a perfect throw to the plate to get Lux for the double play.

The Guardians started to come back in fourth when Steven Kwan walked. With two outs, Kyle Manzardo doubled to put runners at second and third with two outs. Carlos Santana then cut the Reds' lead to 5-2 with a single to center.

Naylor made it 5-3 when he hit his sixth home run to lead off the fifth.

Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 10 games when he homered to right field in the eighth. It was his ninth of the year and his 13th off the Reds in his career. He also 42 RBIs against the Reds in just 187 career at-bats.

--Field Level Media