By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Homer Bailey came within seven outs of joining a very exclusive club that there are only two members of at the present time.

Bailey threw a complete game shutout, allowing no runs on just three hits and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-0 before 41,541, the 291st consecutive sellout at AT&T Park.

With the victory, the Reds completed their first four-game sweep over the Giants since April 18-21, 1985 at Riverfront Stadium, and their first four-game sweep over the Giants in San Francisco since May 16-18, 1972.

This was the first time since AT&T Park opened on April 11, 2000 that the Giants have been swept in a four-game series.

Bailey nearly joined Addie Joss and Tim Lincecum as the only pitchers in major league history to throw multiple no-hitters against the team, but Buster Posey put an end to that theory in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Posey singled to right field with two outs, and then Pablo Sandoval singled Posey to third; however the would end there, as Michael Morse struck out looking to end the inning.

Billy Hamilton drove in the first Reds run of the afternoon, as he doubled in Skip Schumaker, who singled to leadoff the top of the third inning.

It was another tough loss for Tim Hudson, who went eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out six.

Hudson received no offensive support for the second game in a row, as the Giants have lost four in a row, six out of their last and 15 out of their last 19.

Coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium, the two longtime rivals are now tied for first place after the Dodgers made up nine and a half games in just 22 days.

The Reds blew the game wide open in the top of the ninth inning, as they scored four runs off of Hudson, Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla.