A barrage of four homers powered the Reds to a 6-5 victory over the Giants, who were left with a lead of only one game over the Dodgers in the West division race. Lee May started the Cincy cannonading with a homer in the first inning. Hal McRae and George Foster connected for the circuit in succession in the second.

The Giants got two runs back with doubles by Tito Fuentes, Bobby Bonds and Dave Kingman in the third and tied the score in the sixth with an unearned run on a single by Dick Dietz, a sacrifice and an error by Tony Perez. However, in the Reds' half of the sixth, May singled, Johnny Bench walked and McRae smashed his second homer of the game. As a result, the Reds were able to triumph although the Giants narrowed the gap with a run in the seventh on Kingman's third double of the game and a single by Dietz. [The Sporting News]



Cincinnati Reds 6, San Francisco Giants 5
Game Played on Saturday, September 25, 1971 (Day game) at Riverfront Stadium
Giants       0  0  2    0  0  1    2  0  0  -   5 12  0
Reds         1  2  0    0  0  3    0  0  x  -   6  7  2


Giants               AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG      Reds                 AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG
Henderson lf          5   0   2   0     0   0   .263      Rose rf               4   0   0   0     0   0   .302
Fuentes 2b            5   1   2   0     0   0   .266      Helms 2b              4   0   0   0     0   0   .260
Mays cf               4   0   0   0     1   1   .274      May 1b                4   2   2   1     0   1   .280
Bonds rf              5   1   1   1     0   1   .288      Perez 3b              4   0   0   0     0   1   .267
Kingman 1b            5   1   3   1     0   1   .275        Concepcion ss       0   0   0   0     0   0   .204
Dietz c               4   2   3   1     1   0   .252      Bench c               3   1   1   0     1   1   .240
  Duffy pr            0   0   0   0     0   0   .182      McRae lf              3   2   2   4     0   1   .267
Gallagher 3b          2   0   0   0     0   1   .279      Foster cf             3   1   1   1     0   0   .246
  McCovey ph          1   0   1   1     0   0   .269      Woodward ss,3b        3   0   0   0     0   0   .248
  Rosario pr          0   0   0   0     0   0   .224      Gullett p             2   0   1   0     0   0   .120
  Lanier 3b           0   0   0   0     0   0   .228        Granger p           0   0   0   0     0   0   .143
  Rader ph            1   0   0   0     0   0   .000        Gibbon p            0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
Speier ss             3   0   0   0     1   1   .235        Sprague p           1   0   0   0     0   1   .000
Cumberland p          2   0   0   0     0   1   .123
  Hart ph             1   0   0   0     0   0   .256
  McMahon p           0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
  Howarth ph          1   0   0   0     0   0   .231
  Barr p              0   0   0   0     0   0   .000

Totals               39   5  12   4     3   6             Totals               31   6   7   6     1   5

Time of Game: 2:20   Attendance: 18,107
Left on Base: Giants 11, Reds 2
DP: Giants 0, Reds 0
Errors: May, Perez
Doubles: Kingman 3 (10), Fuentes (25), Bonds (32), McCovey (11)
Home Runs: May (39), McRae 2 (9), Foster (13)
Sacrifice Hits: Gallagher (4)


Giants                 IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Cumberland              5     5   3   3   0   2   3  20   2.94
McMahon L(10-6)         2     2   3   3   1   2   1   9   4.06
Barr                    1     0   0   0   0   1   0   3   3.57
Totals                  8     7   6   6   1   5   4  32

Reds                   IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Gullett                 5.2   7   3   2   3   4   0  28   2.65
Granger                 1     2   2   2   0   0   0   5   3.17
Gibbon                  0     1   0   0   0   0   0   1   2.94
Sprague W(1-0)          2.1   2   0   0   0   2   0   9   0.00
Totals                  9    12   5   4   3   6   0  43

Umpires: HP - Augie Donatelli, 1B - Ed Vargo, 2B - Doug Harvey, 3B - Jerry Dale


GIANTS 1ST: Henderson grounded out (second to first); Fuentes
flied out to left; Mays walked; Bonds was called out on strikes;
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 0, Reds 0.

REDS 1ST: Rose flied out to center; Helms grounded out
(shortstop to first); May homered; Perez grounded out (third to
first); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Giants 0, Reds 1.

GIANTS 2ND: Kingman doubled to left; Dietz flied out to left;
Gallagher was called out on strikes; Speier was walked
intentionally; Cumberland struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.
Giants 0, Reds 1.

REDS 2ND: Bench was called out on strikes; McRae homered; Foster
homered; Woodward flied out to right; Gullett flied out to
center; 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Giants 0, Reds 3.

GIANTS 3RD: Henderson flied out to center; Fuentes doubled to
left; Mays flied out to center; Bonds doubled to right [Fuentes
scored]; Kingman doubled to center [Bonds scored]; Dietz walked;
Gallagher flied out to right; 2 R, 3 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.  Giants 2,
Reds 3.

REDS 3RD: Rose flied out to center; Helms grounded out (pitcher
to first); May grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Giants 2, Reds 3.

GIANTS 4TH: Speier struck out; Cumberland flied out to center;
Henderson made an out to second; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Giants
2, Reds 3.

REDS 4TH: Perez flied out to right; Bench singled to center;
McRae was called out on strikes; Foster flied out to center; 0
R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 2, Reds 3.

GIANTS 5TH: Fuentes singled to left; Mays flied out to right;
Bonds grounded out (catcher to first) [Fuentes to second];
Kingman flied out to left; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 2, Reds
3.

REDS 5TH: Woodward flied out to left; Gullett singled to right;
Rose flied out to center; Helms forced Gullett (third to
second); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 2, Reds 3.

GIANTS 6TH: Dietz singled to left; Gallagher out on a sacrifice
bunt (first unassisted) [Dietz to second]; Speier flied out to
right; HART BATTED FOR CUMBERLAND; Hart reached on an error by
Perez [Dietz scored (unearned)]; Henderson singled to left [Hart
to second]; GRANGER REPLACED GULLETT (PITCHING); Fuentes
grounded out (second to first); 1 R (0 ER), 2 H, 1 E, 2 LOB.
Giants 3, Reds 3.

REDS 6TH: MCMAHON REPLACED HART (PITCHING); May singled to
center; Perez struck out; Bench walked [May to second]; McRae
homered [May scored, Bench scored]; Foster popped to first in
foul territory; Woodward flied out to left; 3 R, 2 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Giants 3, Reds 6.

GIANTS 7TH: Mays made an out to third; Bonds flied out to left;
Kingman doubled to center; Dietz singled to left [Kingman
scored]; MCCOVEY BATTED FOR GALLAGHER; GIBBON REPLACED GRANGER
(PITCHING); McCovey doubled to center [Dietz scored]; ROSARIO
RAN FOR MCCOVEY; SPRAGUE REPLACED GIBBON (PITCHING); Speier
grounded out (third to first); 2 R, 3 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 5,
Reds 6.

REDS 7TH: LANIER REPLACED ROSARIO (PLAYING 3B); Sprague struck
out; Rose grounded out (second to first); Helms grounded out
(third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Giants 5, Reds 6.

GIANTS 8TH: HOWARTH BATTED FOR MCMAHON; Howarth flied out to
center; Henderson singled to right; Fuentes flied out to center;
Mays was called out on strikes; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 5,
Reds 6.

REDS 8TH: BARR REPLACED HOWARTH (PITCHING); May struck out;
Perez flied out to center; Bench flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H,
0 E, 0 LOB.  Giants 5, Reds 6.

GIANTS 9TH: CONCEPCION REPLACED PEREZ (PLAYING SS); WOODWARD
CHANGED POSITIONS (PLAYING 3B); Bonds grounded out (shortstop to
first); May dropped a foul fly hit by Kingman for an error;
Kingman struck out; Dietz singled; DUFFY RAN FOR DIETZ; RADER
BATTED FOR LANIER; Rader forced Duffy (second to shortstop); 0
R, 1 H, 1 E, 1 LOB.  Giants 5, Reds 6.