Photo courtesy of San Francisco Giants. Kyle Harrison celebrates striking out a batter.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

The Giants opened up a three-game home series against the Reds with a convincing victory by a final of 4-1.

Monday’s pitcher’s duel was between two rookies as Kyle Harrison faced Andrew Abbot. For Harrison, it was only the second game of his career as his debut was against the Phillies on August 22nd.

Harrison got rolling quickly in this game going perfect in the first inning as he struck out the side.

With two runners on base, Wilmer Flores doubled to right field getting the Giants on the board as Austin Slater made it home.

The K’s did not stop in the second inning as Harrison struck out another two batters quickly bringing his total K’s up to five.

In the third San Francisco got the offense going again as Patrick Bailey doubled to right field knocking home Thairo Estrada. Following that up was Paul Dejong who got J.D. Davis home on a sacrifice fly making it 3-0.

The fourth saw the first pitching change of the game as the Reds called on Buck Farmer to replace Abbot. Cincinnati’s starter finished the night with six K’s, three walks, and three earned runs.

The offense for the Reds continued to be ice-cold as at the end of the sixth inning they only had two hits total.

Looking for more insurance Wade Meckler got the second RBI of his young career on a double that got Joc Pederson home.

In the seventh, the Reds showed some life as Christian Encarnacion-Strand doubled and TJ Friedl walked with only one out. With those two on that would end the night for Harrison who finished with a stellar 11 K’s, only three hits, two walks, and no runs allowed. As he walked off the field he got a standing ovation from the Oracle Park crowd.

Coming in to replace Harrison was Ryan Walker who would give up a single getting one run home and making it 4-1. After the run Walker shut it down striking out Will Benson to end the inning.

The ninth saw the Giants closer Camilo Doval retire the side in order to secure Harrison’s first career win.

The Giant’s next game will be the second of this home series against the Reds at 6:45 p.m on Tuesday night. Starting pitchers for Cincinnati left hander Brandon Williamson (4-3 ERA 4.18) for San Francisco against right hander Alex Cobb (6-5 ERA 3.74) at Oracle Park.