DENVER (AP) ― Brandon Phillips tripled, homered and doubled in his first three at-bats, Greg Reynolds beat his former team for his first major league win in two years, and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-3 on Saturday night.
Phillips scored three times, drove in two runs and just missed becoming the first Reds player to hit for the cycle since Eric Davis did it against the San Diego Padres on June 2, 1989. Phillips struck out and grounded sharply to third in his last two at-bats.
He began the night with an RBI triple that rolled to the center-field wall, and scored on Joey Votto’s groundout. Phillips connected in the third off Juan Nicasio for his 17th home run, then doubled to left in the fifth and scored.
Colorado’s Todd Helton remained one hit shy of 2,500, going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts a night after homering twice and matching a career high with six RBIs.
Reynolds, the Rockies’ first-round draft pick in 2006 who was traded two years ago to Texas, was signed to a minor league contract by the Reds last December. Making his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Louisville to fill in for injured Tony Cingrani, Reynolds (1-2) allowed three runs on seven hits over eight innings in his first career start against his former team.
He fanned five, striking out the side in the seventh, and walked none in his first big league win since July 2, 2011, against Kansas City while with the Rockies.
The Reds, leading 3-0, added three more runs in the fifth. Choo Shin-soo, who had three hits, singled to start the inning and Phillips doubled, his third extra-base hit of the game.
