CINCINNATI — It was a game that seemingly had a little bit of everything. Dueling perfect game bids that both fell apart. Home runs, four in total. An overturned call and a pitch clock violation, each of which had instant ramifications. A behind-the-back catch. And Gold Glove defense by a third baseman with five of them to his name.
In the end, the Giants (2-1) ended Sunday’s matinee at Great American Ball Park with a 6-3 win over the Reds (1-2), taking two of three from Cincinnati to open the season. Not a bad start to the Buster Posey era in the slightest.
“Obviously, we expect to win every game, but to win every series, that’s our goal,” said third baseman Matt Chapman. “To come in, win a series on the road early in the season is tough. Emotions are high. Everybody’s still kind of getting settled in. To be able to come out of the series with two wins — I believe (the Reds are) going to be a good team. So, it’s big for us.”
San Francisco had no shortage of contributors en route to the win. Heliot Ramos hit his second homer of the season, drove in two runs and made a diving catch in left field. Chapman belted his first homer of the year, totaled two RBIs of his own and made his first truly elite defensive play of the year, turning a 5-3 inning-ending double play to end the eighth. Jung Hoo Lee and Willy Adames drove in a run apiece. The bullpen pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings and Camilo Doval recorded his first save of the year as Ryan Walker deals with a bad back.
Through five innings, Robbie Ray was the one on pace for history.
Ray and Nick Martinez opened the afternoon with four perfect innings apiece, trading zeros as the game progressed at a rapid pace. Martinez blinked first, allowing a solo home run to Heliot Ramos in the fifth. When the Giants tagged Martinez for three runs in the sixth on Jung Hoo Lee’s RBI double and Chapman’s two-run homer, his first of the year, the Giants looked positioned to cruise.
Until they weren’t.
Gavin Lux, the former Los Angeles Dodger, began the bottom of the sixth by breaking up Ray’s perfect game bid with a single. Two batters later, Austin Wynns, the former San Francisco backup and now Reds’ nine-hole batter, sent a middle-middle slider into the left-field bleachers following a pitch clock violation, slicing the Giants’ lead in half. Matt McLain followed Wynns with a home run of his own, barely clearing the left-center field fence.
With two swings, San Francisco’s lead went from 4-0 to 4-3.
“I was frustrated. I didn’t think that it was a violation,” Ray said. “I’m pretty sure I started before it go to zero. I’ll have to go back and look at it, but it definitely is frustrating because it messes up my pitch sequencing in that at-bat, and then I’m frustrated and leave a pitch up. But, we move on. We won. That’s a big team win right there, big series win to start the season.”
Pitching coach J.P. Martinez went out to the mound to try to compose Ray, but the left-hander proceeded to walk Santiago Espinal on four pitches. During the latter two pitches, the crowd at Great American Ball Park joined in unison to count down as the pitch clock approached zero, a callback to Ray’s violation before Wynn’s homer.
Manager Bob Melvin pulled Ray following the walk in favor of Erik Miller, who retired Cincinnati’s star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and put out the fire.
The Giants added some much-needed insurance in the top of the eighth.
Fitzgerald reached base on a fielding error by De La Cruz, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by LaMonte Wade Jr. Despite already being in scoring position with the heart of the order coming up, Fitzgerald made the bold decision to steal third base. Fitzgerald was initially ruled out, but the Giants challenged and the call was overturned. Willy Adames drove in Fitzgerald with a sacrifice fly, his first RBI in a Giants uniform, stretching the lead to 5-3. Ramos provided more insurance later in the inning by driving in Lee with a single, giving San Francisco a 6-3 lead.
Tyler Rogers allowed two Reds to reach base in the bottom of the eighth, but escaped trouble thanks to baseball’s best defensive third baseman. With one out, Chapman fielded Espinal’s weak chopper, used his momentum to tag out Blake Dunn, then fired to first on the run for the inning-ending double play. Chapman said he tagged Dunn with the tip of his glove and planned to throw to first regardless, but he also heard the third-base umpire yell that Dunn was out of the baseline.
“You appreciate it, because he makes the tough ones look routine,” Ray said. “He’s special over there. It’s really fun to watch.”
Added Melvin: “Nobody else makes that play where you even have the presence to think about going to get to the runner, then on the run, make that play at first base. It felt like it was three runs.”