San Francisco Giants Casey Schmitt slugs a ground rule double in the bottom of the tenth inning to score Luis Matos for a walk off hit against the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun May 12, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Cincinnati Reds 5 (17-23)

San Francisco Giants 6 (19-23)

Win: Luke Jackson (1-1)

Loss: Emilio Pagan (2-3)

Time: 3:13

Attendance: 36,210

By Stephen Ruderman

What started off as a disastrous game turned into possibly the biggest win of the season for the Giants, as despite Kyle Harrison’s wildness and Jung-hoo Lee going down to injury in the first inning, the Giants came back to beat the Reds in a wild 10-inning game 6-5 on a walk-off base-hit by Casey Schmitt.

After a much-needed 5-1 over the Reds in a nationally-televised late-afternoon affair yesterday, the Giants had a chance to take the series on Mother’s Day with a win today. With their young left-hander, Kyle Harrison, going, the Giants had every reason to feel good about today.

However, the first inning would be far from ideal. Harrison hit TJ Friedl to start the game, and it pretty much set the tone for the early part of the game. Harrison walked Spencer Steer with one out, and he walked Stuart Fairchild with two outs to load the bases for Jeimer Candelario.

Candelario hit a high fly ball to right-center field that center-fielder Jung-hoo Lee kept from going out of the park with a grand slam with a leap over the wall, but the ball deflected off his glove, and all three runs scored on a double by Candelario to give the Reds an early 3-0 lead.

Worst of all, Lee, who was in the lineup for the first time since fouling a ball off his left foot Wednesday night in Denver, crashed his left shoulder into the fenced portion of the wall in right-center that is not totally padded. Lee sat on the ground for a few minutes, as he was tended to by Manager Bob Melvin and two of the Giants’ trainers, and he had to come out of the game with a dislocated left shoulder.

“That guy leaves it all out there,” said Harrison. “I have so much respect for him, and hopefully, he’s alright. The guy’s just a gamer.”

The Giants have already lost a good chunk of players to injuries over the last week: Patrick Bailey, Jorge Soler, Nick Ahmed, Tom Murphy and Michael Conforto just to name a few. Losing Lee could be a massive blow to the team.

This was not the first time in this series that a Giants’ outfielder crashed into the non-padded part of the outfield fence. Austin Slater of course suffered a concussion after crashing into the non-padded portion of the fence in left-center in the first inning on Friday night.

Lee was also not the only player who came out of the game in the first inning. Reds’ right-fielder TJ Friedl, who was hit by a pitch on his right shoulder to start the game, also had to leave the ballgame.

The Reds turned to veteran right-hander Frankie Montas to make the start, and he set down the first two Giants he faced in the bottom of the first inning. LaMonte Wade walked with two outs, and Wilmer Flores was hit by a pitch to set things up for Mike Yastrzemski, but Yastrzemski popped out to short to end the inning.

The one thing that has constantly gotten Kyle Harrison into trouble has been his command, and today would be one of those days for him, as he escaped a pair of walks in the top of the second. Montas, meanwhile, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the second.

“[I] just came out flat today,” said Harrison. [I] hate to put the boys behind early, but they came out and had my back.”

With one out in the top of the third, Harrison walked Fairchild, as it was the fifth walk in just two and a third innings for Harrison. However, Harrison caught a break when Candelario lined a bullet to Matt Chapman at third, and Chapman threw to first to double off Fairchild to end the inning.

Unfortunately for the Giants, Montas kept dealing, as he pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third. Harrison then pitched a scoreless top of the fourth after giving up a one-out single to Santiago Espinal.

LaMonte Wade appeared as if he was going to get the Giants on the board on a long drive to right-center to start the bottom of the fourth, but center-fielder Stuart Fairchild made an incredible catch at the wall to take away a home run from Wade.

Wilmer Flores then finally got the Giants’ first base-hit, as he singled on a ground ball the other way to right. Heliot Ramos grounded a single to left with two outs to put runners at first and second for Blake Sabol, who was hit by a pitch.

It was the third hit batsman in the game, and it was the second game in a row in which there were three hit batters in the game, as four were hit yesterday. The bases were then loaded for Casey Schmitt, but the Giants would waste another opportunity, as Schmutt grounded to third for a force out at second to end the inning.

Kyle Harrison then pitched a scoreless top of the fifth, and he was a strike away from his first 1-2-3 inning of the afternoon, but Jonathan India singled with two outs. It wasn’t the prettiest outing for Harrison, but he was able to settle down after struggling with his control early on to give his team five innings.

“I focused just on the secondary stuff [later on],” said Harrison. “[I went with my] off-speed [stuff]. [My] slider was really good today. [I] probably should have thrown it earlier in that first inning just to get me synced up.”

“Over the course of [the] early part of this season, he’s had to navigate some situations that weren’t particularly comfortable,” said Melvin. “You gotta take a deep breath and step back and do things a little bit differently and make big pitches when you have to. For a young guy, that’s pretty impressive to watch, because it did not start out great [for him], and it didn’t look like it was getting any better, then all the sudden, he ended up making a pitch when he had to every single time.”

The Giants then started a rally. Tyler Fitzgerald doubled down the left field line with one out, and Matt Chapman lined a single up the middle and into center field to score Fitzgerald and put the Giants on the board.

Wade then came up and hit a high soaring fly ball down the right field line that he appeared to get too much underneath to hit out, but the ball kept carrying, and it ended up going over the 24-foot-high Willie Mays Wall in right to tie the game. Right when it came out that Lee’s injury was not as bad as feared, the Giants suddenly came back to tie the game, so the mood was definitely much better at Oracle Park.

The Giants had come back to tie it, and they were still going in the bottom of the fifth. Wilmer Flores singled to left and advanced to second on a ground out by Yastrzemski. Heliot Ramos then came up looking to continue his hot start with the Giants, and he lined a base-hit up the middle to center to score Flores and give the Giants their first lead of the game.

Ramos’ single nicked Montas out of the game, as Reds Manager David Bell went to Nick Martinez. Blake Sabol then came up and his a slow ground ball to short that was charged by Elly De La Cruz, but De La Cruz bounced the throw, and it skipped off the glove of first-baseman Jeimer Candelario, which allowed Ramos to score all the way from the third and make it 5-3.

Sean Hjelle came in for Harrison and pitched a scoreless top of the sixth for the Giant, and Martinez stayed in the game and threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth for Cincinnati. Hjelle set down the first two batters he faced in the top of the seventh, but after he gave up a two-out base-hit to Spencer Steer, he was done.

Melvin brought in Ryan Walker, who immediately gave up a base-hit to Jonathan India, which put runners at the corners for Jake Fraley. Fraley then lined a base-hit to left to score Steer and cut the Giants’ lead to 5-4.

Walker was able to escape further damage in the top of the seventh, but Justin Wilson came in for Martinez and threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh. Walker was back out for the eighth, and on the first pitch of the inning, he gave up a game-tying home run to Mike Ford.

Walker was pulled with a runner at first and two outs for closer Camilo Doval, and Doval struck De La Cruz swinging to end the inning. Fernando Cruz came in for the Reds and threw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth.

Doval stayed out for the ninth, but he ran into trouble. With one out, Jonathan India singled to left and stole second. Jake Fraley then walked, and the runners advanced to second and third on a groundout by Candelario. Doval was able to strike Ford out looking to end the inning.

The Giants caught a break against Alexis Diaz in the bottom of the ninth when Matt Chapman was able to reach second with two outs after several Reds’ converged but were unable to catch a popup to center. However, after an automatic walk to Wade, Flores was trying to swing for the fences, and he ended up fouling out to end the inning.

The game went to the 10th, and with extra innings, that of course meant the automatic runner at second base. In the top of the 10th, the automatic runner would be Conner Capel. Luke Jackson came in for San Francisco, and despite a two-out walk to Will Benson, Jackson struck De La Cruz out swinging to end the inning and keep the game tied.

In the bottom of the 10th, the automatic runner for the Giants was Luis Matos, who was called up prior to the game, and the pitcher for the Reds was Emilio Pagan. Mike Yastrzemski struck out looking for the first out, and Heliot Ramos flew out deep to right. Matos should have been at third, but he was half-way between second and third as expected Ramos’ fly ball to fall, and as a result he had to stay at second.

Fortunately for the Giants, Blake Sabol worked a two-out walk, and after David Bell went to Lucas Sims, Casey Schmitt hit a walk-off single to left-center to end it. It was Schmitt’s first hit of the season, as well as his first-career walk-off hit.

“[I] just [wanted to] see something I could hit and let it rip,” said Schmitt. “I’m just trying not to do too much, just trying to be as simple as I can and find something I can hit.”

At the onset, this game appeared to be an utter disaster, but not only were the Giants were able to come back from down 3-0 to take the lead after losing one of their best players to injury, they hung in there after the Reds tied it late, and they were able to battle all the way to the very end of an extra-inning game to get their biggest win of the season.

“It’s resilience,” said Harrison. “That’s [been] Giants’ baseball as long as I remember it…..it was an awesome day.”

“It was a great team win,” said Schmitt. “It was a lot of fun to be a part of it.

The Giants showed a lot of grit and resilience today, but dislocated shoulders tend to take at least six to eight weeks to heal, so it will be a real test of the mental agility of the 2024 Giants in how they can play in the long run without Lee.

“It’s just one of those times during the season where you gotta persevere,” said Melvin. “[It’s a time when] other guys get some opportunities, and those guys came through today.”

“I think [we have] that focus of the next game,” said Harrison. “It doesn’t matter who we have out there, we gotta fight, and even when we have everyone, we gotta fight. I think the mentality stays the same. We got good guys here in the clubhouse, and we’re meshing well now.”

Through it all, Luke Jackson got the win, and Emilio Pagan took the loss. The Giants improve to 19-23, and now they will have some momentum going into their three game set against the Dodgers that starts tomorrow night.

Jordan Hicks will be on the mound in the series opener tomorrow night, and first pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.

News and Notes:

Jung-hoo Lee will undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine the severity of his dislocated left shoulder. If it is severe enough, there is the potential that it could end his season.

Michael Conforto was placed on the 10-Day Injured list prior to the game due to his strained right hamstring. Outfielder Luis Matos was called up to take Conforto’s place.

Catcher Patrick Bailey, who was activated off the 7-Day Concussion IL yesterday, was scratched from the lineup due to a viral illness. It is not yet known how much time he will miss as a result.

Casey Schmitt got the hit with his mom, Tina, in the stands. Schmitt said that getting the hit with her in the stands on Mother’s Day made it extra special for him.