McCoy: Miley, Antone mow down Giants in 3-0 Reds’ win

Wade pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Reds to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

And Miley has been letter perfect in his two starts. After holding the Pittsburgh Pirates to no runs and two hits over six innings in his first start, he stopped the Giants on no runs and two hits. That’s no runs and four hits over 11 innings for the fast-dealing Miley.

Miley works so fast it is as if he has early reservations at Scoma’s Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf.

And as good as Miley was, the Reds follow-up act on the mound was even more devastating. TeJay Antone pitched 3 2/3 innings and only two reached base, one on a walk and one was hit by a pitch. Antone struck out five.

Antone was only one out away for a four-inning save, but with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth, manager David Bell brought in Lucas Sims to face ever-dangerous Evan Longoria.

And he struck out Longoria to end it, Sims’ first career save.

The Giants sent up four pinch-hitters to face Antone and all four went back to the dugout hitless and mumbling to themselves.

Offensively, the Reds were challenged on this night, only five hits, but they used two thunderclaps for their three runs, home runs by Jesse Winker and Joey Votto.

Winker owes the Giants a Hallmark thank you note for shortening the fence in left center field. They built the bullpen in front of the old home run wall and Winker took advantage.

After Giants starter Aaron Sanchez walked Tucker Barnhart on four pitches in the third inning, Winker lobbed a two-out home run into that bullpen area to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the sixth inning when Votto led off. Votto was without a home run this season but remedied that in whopping fashion. He cleared the right field wall, cleared the bleachers and deposited his first home run into Willie McCovey Cove to make it 3-0.

Winker was in the lineup and hot-hitting Tyler Naquin was on the bench for this one.

“We have four outfielders that are playing a lot and really well,” manager David Bell said in explaining the situation. “We have another outfielder with Aristides Aquino that I’d like to  get more playing time to because he’s in a really good place offensively.

“It’s a challenge, but we’ll get through it and make the most of it. It’s definitely a positive.”

And the outfield gets as crowded as a broom closet in early May when Shogo Akiyama returns from the injured list, another piece of the outfield puzzle for Bell to fit in.

Votto has been hitting the ball hard, but mostly right at somebody, mostly to the deeply shifted second baseman.

Before the game, Votto told the media via Zoom, “The ball needs to go in the gap, in the air, and I haven’t really put many good swings that are going to be gap balls, balls off the wall, balls over the fence. Yeah, I’m hitting balls at people, but I’m also rolling over and I’m also missing hittable pitches.”

He didn’t miss the pitch Sanchez threw, he got the lift he needed, and the ball cleared the wall.