Giants soar to victory in 5-1 win over Reds

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds today, 5-1.

It all started off with the biggest swing of the bat of the game in the bottom of the first inning. LaMonte Wade, Jr. and Patrick Bailey got things started with singles, and Heliot Ramos walked to load the bases with two outs.

It was at this point that the familiar mental mantra of “how will the Giants avoid scoring this time?” was finally incorrect, as Matt Chapman set the tone of this game in a big way with a grand slam to center field.

If I had a nickel for every time there’s been a grand slam in a game I’ve recapped this season, I’d have three nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s still weird that it’s happened three times. I can’t decide if my takeaway from this should be that I need to think more positively, or if negative thinking pays off. That might be one for the philosophers.

Anyway, that was a huge confidence boost to rookie Mason Black, who ultimately allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in four and a third innings in his second start. That lone run came on a home run from Elly De La Cruz in the fourth inning.

And I’ve got to hand it to the Reds, they tried really, really hard to lose this game. They had more hits than the Giants and had three free bases due to hits by pitch, but left nine runners on. Even worse, there were two innings where they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on the base path.

Both Jake Fraley in the fourth inning and Jeimer Candelario in the sixth inning hit singles that they tried to stretch into doubles and were thrown out. It was truly an impressive feat. Both from the Giants defense, and the ineptitude of the baserunners’ judgement.

Another note from the fourth inning, Chapman singled to lead things off, after a successful challenge by the Giants. And Michael Conforto followed that up with a single as well, but had to come out of the game with right hamstring tightness. This brought in Mike Yastrzemski, with Ramos moving over to left field. Which would be quite impactful later in the game, as he seemed to be a magnet for fly balls and line drives.

Now we get to, quite possibly, the best inning of the game. And I know, that’s hard to believe when the first inning had a grand slam.

Let me set the scene. Mason Black had just walked Candelario to lead off the inning, before Will Benson hit a line drive to Ramos who made an amazing tumbling catch. But all eyes in the park were on what was on the field near where Ramos made the catch.

We might as well have all been playing Stardew Valley, because we were in Pelican Town, baby.

Normally, I don’t really enjoy watching animals on the field. They’re usually very scared and being chased and yelled at by a lot of people and it’s honestly probably really traumatic for them. But not this dude, whom I have decided to name David B. Penguin, because Dave Flemming accidentally called it a penguin on the radio broadcast, and we can never let him live that down.

Some other highlights from the Fox broadcast were “Out here in California, anyone can become a star” and the entirety of the pelican’s exit.

Okay, okay. Enough about David B. Penguin.

Black’s game was done after Pelican-gate, when he walked Jonathan India. And then things got dicey. Taylor Rogers entered and got TJ Friedl to strike out, but followed that up by hitting De La Cruz to load the bases for last night’s hero, Stuart Fairchild. Adding some drama to the chat. But he got out of it unscathed, getting Fairchild to strike out.

The Giants got their fifth and final run of the game in the seventh. Tyler Fitzgerald got the ball rolling with a single, after which Thairo Estrada got in on the fun with one of his own that Fitzgerald was able to get to third on.

And then the scariest moment of the game happened. Wade was batting and was hit by a pitch that knocked him to the ground. At first view, it appeared like it had hit him in the head and I felt my heart drop to my stomach. But the replay showed that he most likely took the brunt of the impact off of his shoulder, before it bounced up and off his helmet.

Wade stayed in the game and took first to load the bases. I haven’t seen an update about him since, so fingers crossed he’s okay.

Bailey, who’s fresh back from his own scary baseball to the head experience, got the job done and knocked in Fitzgerald with a sac fly.

Finally, I’d like to give a shout-out to the Giants bullpen for banding together to put up four and two thirds scoreless innings to follow up Black’s strong start.