"Edinson Volquez was in the trainer's room Thursday when Ramon Hernandez belted his clinching homer, which thrilled Volquez for two reasons.

First, the homer gave the Reds a 7-6 win over Milwaukee. Second, Volquez was off the hook.

Right-hander Volquez, in his first Opening Day start, became the first pitcher in 42 years to allow back-to-back home runs to start a season. Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez started the game with homers for Milwaukee.

Volquez lasted six innings and allowed another solo homer, to Ryan Braun. Volquez was charged with five runs, as he threw 91 pitches. Volquez stood to take the loss until Hernandez intervened.

"To give up two home runs in the first inning … it happens," Volquez said. "That's OK, I threw a lot of good pitches. Anything can happen in baseball."

The 1969 Reds were the most recent team to start a season with back-to-back homers, when Pete Rose and Bobby Tolan connected off Los Angeles Dodgers ace Don Drysdale. The Reds lost 3-2.

The Reds appeared headed for a similar fate Thursday, when Milwaukee added another first-inning run on a sacrifice fly by Casey McGehee for a 3-0 lead.

Volquez admitted to an early adrenaline rush with a sellout crowd of 42,398 watching.

"I think I was a little bit excited in the first inning," Volquez said. "I just told myself to calm down and throw my pitches.""