The Cincinnati Reds Kyle Farmer (17) high fives teammate Tyler Stevenson after hitting a first inning three run home run at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on Sat May 28, 2022 (AP News photo)

Giants Drop A Second Game to the Reds 3-2

By Barbara Mason

Saturday afternoon the San Francisco Giants (24-21) took on the Reds (16-30) in Cincinnati. After losing Friday’s game 5-1, the Giants were looking to bounce back against a team that quite frankly is not a very good one. They couldn’t pull it off losing by a run 3-2 at Great American Park in Cincinnati.

The Reds got on the board in the first inning when Kyle Farmer hit a home run driving in Brandon Drury and Tyler Stephenson for an early 3-0 lead.

The Giants loaded the bases in the second inning but came up empty. In the third inning Yastrzemski would score on a Joc Pederson double for their first run of the game.

San Francisco scored in the sixth inning when Evan Longoria hit a solo home run still trailing 3-2. The Giants had 12 hits to the Reds 5. They had many opportunities in this game but failed to capitalize. One of the most glaring downfalls for the team were the 11 runners on base that failed to score.

The most disappointing inning in this game was the ninth. Curt Casali singled and Yastrzemski walked. With two outs, Wilmer Flores singled and the Giants had the chance to load the bases yet again in this game. Pinch runner Joey Bart was waved home and thrown out at the plate and that was the ball game.

Right fielder Aristides Aquino made a magnificent throw to catcher Tyler Stephenson for the out and the win for Cincinnati in a surprising move by San Francisco.

Post game notes: Major League Baseball announced before Saturday’s game that the Reds outfielder Tommy Pham had been suspended three games Fri-Sun for slapping San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson in the face before Friday night’s game.

The slapping by Pham stemmed by a Fantasy Football League dispute in the off season. Pham took exception to what Pederson had wrote in explaining that he did not stash players while one of his players was on the IL.

Pham said that Pederson’s comments were disrespectful and there is a code to follow in Fantasy Football, “We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there’s a code,” and that Pederson was “messing with my money.”

Pham who was with the San Diego Padres last season and Pederson who was with the Atlanta Braves showed a screen shot of what he sent to the Padres joking about the Padres struggle in the final months of the season.

Pham wrote to Pederson saying that Pederson did not know Pham that much to be joking about the Padres struggles like that. Pederson said he knew four or five of the guys on the Padres at the time and it was a joke and for laughs.

Pham however didn’t take it that way and confronted Pederson on Friday and slapped him in the face during batting practice. Pederson said it was a lighthearted joke he knew some of the guys over at the Padres and Pederson said he meant no harm.

But since the slap there might be some unspoken bad blood with Pederson’s teammates who didn’t appreciate Pham slapping their teammate before Friday’s game and they just might be waiting on Pham when the Reds come to San Francisco Jun 24-26 at Oracle Park.

Tomorrow the Giants will take on the Reds in game three of this series. They will try to avoid being swept in this final game. Alex Cobb (3-2, 6.25) will take the mound for San Francisco. For the Reds Tyler Mahle (2-5, 6.32) will get the nod. First pitch is 8:35 AM.