San Francisco Giants Matt Chapman connects for a single in the top of the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati on Sun Aug 4, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024

Great American Ballpark

Cincinnati, Ohio

San Francisco Giants 8 (56-57)

Cincinnati Reds 2 (53-58)

Win: Robbie Ray (2-1)

Loss: Carson Spiers (4-3)

Time: 2:55

Attendance: 27,692

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants have now won seven of their last nine, Robbie Ray gave a strong five-inning, nine-strikeout performance, and the Giants pulled away with a five-run top of the eighth inning to put an 8-2 beating on the Reds and take the series in Cincinnati on Sunday.

After Blake Snell’s no-hitter on Friday, the Reds beat the Giants in a weird and boring game Saturday night. Sunday, the Giants had a chance to take the series on a clear and sunny Sunday afternoon at Great American Ballpark.

Unfortunately for Giants’ and Reds’ fans, many of them would not be able to watch today’s game. Why? Because it was on Roku, which requires a paid subscription. Way to grow the game, Rob!

Anyway, Carson Spiers made the start for the Reds, and he got the afternoon started with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning. Robbie Ray made his third start of the season for the Giants, and he, too, pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first.

After the Giants went scoreless in the top of the second, Jeimer Candelario put the Reds on the board with a two-out solo home run to left field in the bottom of the second. On the very next pitch, Santiago Espinal followed it up with a home run of his own to left-center to make it 2-0.

After Spier pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third and Ray threw a scoreless bottom of the third, the Giants were ready to strike in the top of the fourth. Tyler Fitzgerald lined a base-hit to left to start the inning, and with one out, Matt Chapman tied the game with a home run to center field.

Ray threw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth, and Spiers threw a scoreless top of the fifth. Ray ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth when Espinal singled to lead off the inning and stole second and third. The Reds were in perfect position to retake the lead with Espinal at third and one out, but Ray got out of it by striking out the side.

That would be it for Ray, who had thrown 86 pitches. Still, he gave the Giants exactly what they needed, as he struck out nine over five innings.

The momentum stayed in the Giants’ dugout, and they immediately seized on that momentum in the top of the sixth. On the first pitch of the inning from Spiers, LaMonte Wade gave the Giants the lead with a home run to right.

Ryan Walker came in for San Francisco in the bottom of the sixth, and he was immediately in trouble after he hit Elly De La Cruz to start the inning. Cruz got to third with one out, but Walker retired the next two he faced, and the Giants kept their 3-2 lead going to seventh.

Tony Santillan, who finished the top of the sixth for Spier, combined with Sam Moll for a scoreless inning in the top of the seventh. Erik Miller retired the first two men he faced in the bottom of the seventh, but after a two-out walk to Joey Wiemer, Bob Melvin went to Tyler Rogers, who hadn’t pitched in eight days. Rogers got Tyler Stephenson to ground out, and we went to the eighth.

Moll stayed in for Cicinnati in the top of the eighth. After a one-out single by Wade, Reds Manager David Bell pulled Moll for Fernando Cruz. Cruz would face the red-hot Fitzgerald, who was named the National League Rookie of the Month in July, and Fitzgerald hit his 11th home run of the year out to left-center to extend the Giants’ lead to 5-2.

For the Giants, they were just getting started. Patrick Bailey walked, and Chapman doubled to put runners at second and third. The Giants had been getting home run happy at Great American Smallpark, but after Bell brought in Yosver Zulueta, Michael Conforto lined a double off the end of the bat to left-center to score a pair and make it 7-2.

The Giants manufactured a pair of runs, which made this particular writer happy. Young slugger Jerar Encarnacion nearly hit one out to center, but it went off the wall, and Encarnacion had to settle for a measly RBI double that made it 8-2.

Rogers has been used quite a bit this season, but he hadn’t been used in eight days, so Melvin decided to leave him in in the bottom of the eighth of a six-run game to get some work in. Rogers didn’t disappoint, as he threw a shutdown 1-2-3 inning.

The Giants put runners at first and second against Zulueta to start the top of the ninth, but they were unable to further add on to their lead. Spencer Bivens came in for the bottom of the ninth, and pitched a scoreless inning to close it out.

It looks like the Giants needed to play the Rockies for four and then go to Great American Smallpark for three to get the offense back on track. The Giants got big days from Wade, Fitzgerald, Chapman and Conforto. Wade and Conforto each went 3-for-5; Fitzgerald went 2-for-4; and Chapman went 2-for-5. Conforto in particular had a good series, as he has gone 5-for-8 in his last two games.

For the housekeeping notes: Robbie Way got the win; and Carson Spiers got the loss.

The Giants have now won seven of their last nine, as they improve to 56-57. The Diamondbacks were losing 4-0 to the Pirates in Pittsburgh, but they have since come back to take a 5-4 lead. If the Pirates can come back late, the Giants will be just three and a half games back of the Diamondbacks for the third wild card.

The Giants will not head to our nation’s capital to take on the Washington Nationals for a four-game set. The Giants are 2-11 when they have a chance to get back up to .500, but perhaps it could be different in the series opener Monday night.

Logan Webb (8-8, 3.49 ERA) will be on the mound, fresh off his complete game shutout on Wednesday, and he will be opposed by the long-time veteran left-hander, Patrick Corban (2-11, 5.88 ERA), who has had a miserable season. First pitch will be at 6:45 p.m. in D.C., and 3:45 p.m. back home in San Francisco.

Giants News and Notes:

Heliot Ramos, who jammed his right thumb during the Giants’ doubleheader against the Rockies on July 27, was out of the lineup Sunday. Ramos has since gone 3-for-21, all singles. He is listed as day-to-day.

As mentioned above, Tyler Fitzgerald was named the National League Rookie of the Month for July, which was capped off by an incredible week in which he hit eight home runs in ten games.