Boxscore

Jeff Keppinger and Joey Votto each had three hits and scored twice, and the Reds survived a four-run Giants rally in the bottom of the ninth to beat San Francisco, 10-9, on Saturday.

Paul Bako hit a solo homer for the Reds, his second HR of the season, and Brandon Phillips had 3 RBIs.

Matt Belisle (1-1) got the win on the mound for the Reds, and Francisco Cordero got his third save despite a shaky outing in which he allowed a two-run triple to the Giants’ Eugenio Velez.

The game was a see-saw affair in which the Reds ultimately needed every bit of their 15-hit attack. The Reds’ three-run uprising in the seventh, in which Ryan Freel contributed an RBI double, proved decisive.

Former Red Rich Aurilia had a solo homer for the Giants, his second of the season. Fred Lewis homered into McCovey’s Cove in the fifth, becoming the first Giant to reach the water since Mister Mitchell Report Barry Bonds did it last August 11.

Coupled with the Pirates’ 8-4 loss to the Phillies on Saturday, the win moved the Reds out of the NLC basement. They are 6-1/2 games behind the division-leading Cubs, who blanked Leatherpants Vampire’s Washington Nationals by a 7-0 margin.

Elsewhere in the division, the Cardinals beat the Astros, 4-3, on Skip Shumaker’s ninth-inning RBI single. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, Prince Fielder’s mammoth 428-foot solo homer provided the deciding run in the eighth inning as the Brewers beat the Marlins, 4-3. It was the second time in four days that Fielder hit a game-winning dinger in the eighth inning – he also victimized the Phillies on Wednesday.

The Reds go for the series win today, with right-hander Edinson Volquez (3-0, 1.21) slated to face Giants southpaw Barry Zito (0-5, 5.61).