—Jonathan India crushed the second pitch thrown by Marlins pitcher Yanny Chirinos out of the park and the third batter, Jeimer Candelario, also drove one over the fence for a pair of first-inning home runs.
—The rest was a matter of filling in the blanks on how bad would it get.
And it was bad. The Reds scored seven runs in the first three innings and made them stand up for a 7-4 victory over the moribund Marlins.
It figured to be bad because the Marlins have scored the second fewest runs in MLB and given up the second most.
Chirinos was making only his fifth start of the season because the entire Marlins starting staff is on the injured list.
Spiers continued his strikeout streak, doing a delightful imitation of Hunter Greene by striking out three more in a row in the second, six straight.
On Thursday, Greene struck out the first six Colorado Rockies. The difference? Greene is a No. 1 draft pick with high expectations. Spiers was an undrafted ‘walk-on,’ with low expectations.
As it happened with Greene, Spiers didn’t strike out seven straight because Nick Gordon grounded to short. But he struck out two more and the eight strikeouts in only three innings matched his career best.
The Reds continued their assault in the second when Chirinos issued a two-out walk to Rece Hinds and Will Benson doubled him home.
So it was 3-0 before the Marlins put a ball in play.
And then the legend of Rece Hinds added another chapter. In the bottom of the third, after a walk to Candelarios, a single by Spencer Steer and a hit by pitch of Noelvi Marte, Hinds did what the fans were imploring him to do.
He launched his first career grand slam over the right-center wall, his third homer in his fifth major-league game. And he tied a major-league record with seven extra base hits in his first five MLB games.
One of several players to do it was Chris Dickerson for the Reds in 2008.
That made it 7-0, but Spiers weakend in the Marlins fourth — two singles and a three-run homer by Jesus Sanchez.
The Marlins extracted a couple of more hits off Speirs in the fifth and he was finished — five innings, three runs, six hits, no walks and a career-best nine strikeouts.
Nick Martinez replaced Spiers and did several demonstrative celebratory dances around the mound after his defensive players made remarkable plays.
The Marlins began the seventh with two weak excuse-me infield hits. Ali Sanchez poked one to shallow right field and Hinds made a long running catch. And Martinez danced.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. lobbed one to shallow center and Will Benson, after a long run, made a diving catch. And Martinez danced.
In the eighth, Josh Bell drove one to deep left. Jake Fraley, playing left field for the first time this season, leaped high against the wall to rob Bell of extra bases. And Martinez danced.
Martinez gave the Reds three innings of no runs, three hits, no walks and two strikeouts. Then Alexis Diaz, as always made it interesting in the ninth. He gave up a run and two hits. With Xavier Edwards at the plate with two on, Elly De La Cruz made a dazzling behind second play to end it.
Even before the game, the Reds were abuzz by what they saw during batting practice. De La Cruz hit one over the right field bleachers, drove it out of the stadium, and it bounced into the Ohio River.
He didn’t homer during the game, but he produced hits his last three times at bat. He doubled to center in the fourth, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.
He singled in the sixth and swiped his league-leading 46th base. And he beat out an infield single in the eighth.
The Marlins outhit the Reds, 12-11, but the only damage Miami did was the three-run homer by Sanchez.
And while the Marlins struck out 11 times, the Reds struck out only three times.
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