CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds took care of business early to help Mike Leake get a big win Saturday.

They scored five first-inning runs on their way to a 7-2 win against the San Francisco Giants.

Seven players each had a hit for the Reds on their way to a second consecutive win for just the second time since sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series in Cincinnati June 13-15. Cincinnati won the series opener 4-3 in 13 innings Friday.

“It helped to score those first inning runs,” Dusty Baker said. “We haven’t been scoring a lot of runs lately.”

Leake, who leads the Reds in wins despite spending 13 days with Triple-A Louisville in May, earned his career-high ninth. The second-year right-hander, winner of eight games as a rookie in 2010, allowed eight hits and two runs — one earned — with no walks and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

“I’m not going to stop there,” Leake said.

The right-hander had quality starts in his past two outings but both resulted in losses as his teammates scored just three runs total, including a shutout loss to Pittsburgh.

“As a pitcher you never complain about runs,” Leake said. “Our offense is coming around.”

The Giants loaded the bases with one out against Leake in the seventh, but left-hander Bill Bray came on to get Carlos Beltran to fly out to left and Pablo Sandoval to ground out to third.

“Bray was outstanding against the middle of their order,” Baker said.

Beltran flied out in the ninth and is 1-for-14 in three games with the Giants since being traded from the Mets on Thursday.

Logan Ondrusek and Nick Masset added a shutout inning for the Reds.

The Reds pounced on an uncharacteristically wild Madison Bumgarner for five hits and five runs in sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning. Brandon Phillips drove in the first run with a single to left, and Jay Bruce and Chris Heisey followed with back-to-back two-run singles up the middle.

Heisey, who is seeing most of the playing time since Jonny Gomes was traded to Washington, can feel the offense heating up.

“At any point, I think our offense can take off,” Heisey said. “We didn’t have a lot of key hits lately but were able to sting them together tonight. As a hitter, you hate to see a guy battling out there when you’re not scoring runs.

Bumgarner, who hadn’t walked more than one batter in any of his previous 10 starts and none in his three most recent appearances, didn’t help himself with two walks in the inning. The left-hander also hit Miguel Cairo while throwing 40 pitches, 23 for strikes.

The Giants got one run back on Sandoval’s 446-foot home run into the right-center field seats leading off the second, his 11th homer of the season and second in three games, but the Reds capitalized on two Giants errors to add to two unearned runs in the fourth.

Then Reds shortstop Edgar Renteria committed two errors in the fifth to hand San Francisco a gift run.

The veteran went to talk to Leake after his second error.

“You know he doesn’t want to make them,” Leake said. “He came in just to pick me up. When I was younger, I would have gotten angry but at some point you learn to deal with it.”

Leake, who spent no time in the minor leagues until his stint in May worked out of the jam.

“That’s the sign of a good pitcher, when you can pitch yourself out of trouble,” Baker said. “He has a lot of weapons. He has the pitches to get a double play. He’s not a strikeout pitcher but can get them when he needs to.”

Bumgarner (6-10) lasted four innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs — five earned — with three walks and four strikeouts. He also was called for a balk.

Notes: Left-hander Aroldis Chapman hasn’t allowed a hit in 8-23 innings in his past seven appearances, the longest single-season stretch by a Reds reliever since Chuck McElroy went 11 1/3 innings from April 25-May 17, 1994, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Chapman has retired 25 of the past 26 batters he’s faced, with one walk and 13 strikeouts. … Giants manager Bruce Bochy planned to give first Aubrey Huff Saturday and today off after he played all 13 innings Friday after the team’s 2:30 a.m. arrival from Philadelphia. … Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips extended his hitting streak to nine games (13-for-38, .342), the team’s longest current streak.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Edgar Renteria singled in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Cincinnati Reds a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Jay Bruce walked on a 3-2 pitch from Brian Wilson (6-3) to lead off the 13th. Miguel Cairo flied out, but pitcher Jose Arredondo — in his first career plate appearance — chopped a single over third baseman Pablo Sandoval and down the left-field line. Renteria, the World Series MVP for the Giants last season, lined a soft single down the right-field line to snap the Reds’ four-game losing streak.

Arredondo (2-3) pitched a perfect 13th.

Both teams escaped bases-loaded jams in the 10th. San Francisco left fielder Nate Schierholtz threw out Joey Votto at the plate to complete an inning-ending double play.

Carlos Beltran got his first hit with the Giants, driving in a run in the top of the first.

The Giants fell behind, then tied the game in the eighth when Aubrey Huff scored from first base on Eli Whiteside’s double up the left-center field gap off of Bill Bray.

They loaded the bases in the sixth, but only got Huff’s sacrifice fly.

Cincinnati went ahead 3-1 in the second inning. Ryan Vogelsong hit Paul Janish with a pitch, and Janish went from first to third on pitcher Dontrelle Willis‘ single to right. Janish scored on Drew Stubbs’ grounder to second.

The Reds scored twice in the bottom of the first after the Giants took a 1-0 lead on Beltran’s single.

The former Mets slugger went 0 for 4 in his Giants debut on Thursday, snapping at 32 his streak of consecutive games in which he reached base at least once.

In the bottom half, Brandon Phillips hit a sacrifice fly and Bruce singled to right to put Cincinnati ahead.

Willis and Vogelsong both lasted six innings. Willis allowed six hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeout, and hit a batter.

Vogelsong gave up seven hits and three runs with two walks and one strikeout. He also hit a batter.

NOTES: Willis has gotten at least one hit in each of his four starts since being called up from Triple-A Louisville by the Reds on July 10. … LHP Barry Zito will start Sunday for the Giants, manager Bruce Bochy said Friday. … Giants LHP Jonathan Sanchez, on the disabled list since June 25 with left biceps tendinitis, will be activated in time to start Aug. 5 against Philadelphia, Bochy said, adding that Sanchez might make one more rehab appearance before then. … Phillips’ first-inning RBI was the 500th RBI of his seven-year career. … Reds SS Zack Cozart, on the disabled list with a hyperextended left elbow, took some swings before Friday’s game for the first time since he was injured on July 23.

Signed last offseason to fill the void created by the departures of Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe, Miguel Tejada played 27 games at shortstop before moving to third base after Pablo Sandoval’s hand injury.

Tejada was, in a word, awful. He committed six errors, showed poor range and struggled badly at the plate.

He has been materially better defensively since moving to 3B (one error in 31 games) but continued to scuffle at the plate. Until a few days ago, he appeared likelier headed for the waiver wire than a new position in the Giants infield. 

This week, however, Tejada’s bat has shown signs of life; he’s accumulated four doubles in two games against the Reds.

If this rejuvenation continues, Tejada offers a better source of offense than Burriss. On the other hand, he has never played 2B as a major leaguer.

With Pablo Sandoval returning Tuesday, Bruce Bochy needs to find a spot for Tejada (as long as he continues to hit). The injury to Sanchez might have created a new option. 

When the Giants signed Miguel Tejada after the departure of Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe last winter, they hoped he would bring a solid, veteran glove to shortstop, as well as an above average bat.

He’s done neither, and has actually been a liability in both categories.

Tejada is hitting just .223 with one home run and 16 RBI.  Defensively, he’s made several costly errors that in some cases have cost the team in the win column.  His range has been very limited, resulting in many ground balls finding holes that would not exist with a more agile infielder.

The return of Pablo Sandoval to third base, and the emergence of the slick-fielding Brandon Crawford will likely result in Tejada being benched, or even released, by San Francisco.