San Francisco Giants Rafael Devers (right) watches his two run home run leave Oracle Park in the bottom of the fifth inning against Cincinnati Reds catcher Jose Trevino (left) at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)
San Francisco Giants game wrap:
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026
Oracle Park
San Francisco, California
Cincinnati Reds 10 (63-71)
San Francisco Giants 9 (54-79)
Win: Tony Santillan (2-4)
Loss: Dylan Smith (0-5)
Save: Emilio Pagan (17)
Time: 3:15
Attendance: 24,130
By Stephen Ruderman
SAN FRANCISCO–A lead in an article can’t generally be more than two sentences, so my lead Wednesday is to let you all know that, because this game was that heartbreaking and chaotic.
The Giants were finally going to do it. Logan Webb bounced back from his disastrous start in Boston with a solid six-inning performance, and the Giants’ offense came alive in the latter part of the game. The Giants went to the ninth inning up 9-3, and three outs away from their long-awaited first sweep of the season, but the Reds scored seven runs in the ninth to beat the Giants 10-9.
With the fact that the Giants had a chance to sweep their first series all year, Tony Vitello decided to have his ace, Logan Webb, who was originally supposed to go Thursday, start Wednesday. Webb was coming off a very-uncharacteristic start at Fenway Park last Friday, in which he hit two guys, and allowed seven-straight baserunners in the bottom of the third inning.
With Webb, you would have to imagine that something like this would not happen again any time soon. The Giants would certainly need Webb to be his usual self if they wanted to pick up that coveted first sweep of the season.
The top of the first inning Wednesday was a bit interesting to say the least. Hector Rodriguez reached on an error by second-baseman Shay Whitcomb on the first pitch of the game. Ely De La Cruz reached on a fielder’s choice, and stole second base.
The Reds had runners at first and second with two outs, when First Base Umpire Ben May ruled that Eugenio Suarez had checked his swing. Tony Vitello let May and Home Plate Umpire Ryan Blakney have it. It would be Blakney who would throw Vitello out.
It was Tony’s fourth ejection of the year. I gotta say that for a manager to have four ejections through the end of August with ABS around, that’s pretty encouraging. We got some early entertainment, and better yet, Webb got out of the jam unscathed.
Left-hander Nick Lodolo took the ball for the Reds. The Giants loaded the bases, but were unable to come through against him in the bottom of the first.
Jose Trevino lined a single the other way to right, just out of the reach of Rafael Devers at first base, to put the Reds on the board in the top of the second. Ke’Bryan Hayes then grounded into an inning-ending double play, and the damage was limited to just the run.
The Giants had a little two-out magic go for them in the bottom of the second. Shea Whitcomb doubled with two outs, and Jonah Cox hit a two-run home run to center field to put the Giants ahead.
Unfortunately, the Giants’ lead was short lived, as Hector Rodriguez led off the top of the third with a home run to left-center, which tied it up. Webb survived runners in scoring position in the third and fourth, and then he finally threw his first 1-2-3 inning of the day in the top of the fifth.
Lodolo threw his first—and what would turn out to be his only—one, two, three inning in the bottom of the fourth. Cox walked to start the bottom of the fifth, and Devers hit one into the water to put the Giants back ahead. It was the 111th splash hit by a Giant in the 27-year history of Oracle Park, and the third for Devers.
Osleivis Basabe then grounded a base-hit to left, and that did it for Lodolo. Terry Francona brought in Julian Garcia, who got through the rest of the inning without any trouble.
Webb finished his day with a scoreless top of the sixth. His outing was a bit shaky at times, but he managed to give up just two runs over six solid innings.
Shay Whitcomb hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to extend the Giants’ lead to 6-2.
Jason Foley came in for the seventh, and things got a bit scary. Hayes, Rodriguez and De La Cruz all singled with one out to load the bases.
Jayce Tingler, who was managing in place of the ejected Tony Vitello, brought in Ryan Walker. Sal Stewart knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3. JJ Bleday then challenged a called third strike, and turned it into ball four to load the bases. However, the crisis was averted when Eugenio Suarez popped out to end the inning.
Spencer Bivens threw a scoreless top of the eighth. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth Drew Gilbert pinch-hit, and hit a three-run double out to right-center to open it up to 9-3.
So, there we were. The Giants were three outs away from finally sweeping a three-game series for the first time all season. However, we had to remember that this was the Giants’ bullpen we were talking about. We also had to remember that the Giants had already lost nine times this season when leading in the ninth inning.
But they weren’t going to blow this big of a lead in the ninth? Were they?
Well, I’ll try and make this as quick as I can to save you all some time. Rodriguez led off the top of the ninth with his second home run of the game. Four batters later, right after Dylan Smith was brought in, Suarez hit a grand slam to make it 9-8.
Now, you all know where this is going. Two bunt singles, an error and a stolen base put runners at second and third. By the way, in case anyone is wondering, there were still no outs at this point. Anyway, Jose Trevino tied the game with a sacrifice fly, and Tyler Stephenson gave the Reds the lead with a base-hit to left.
Reiver Sanmartin had to finish off the top of the ninth, and the Giants were up against the veteran, Emilio Pagan, in the bottom of the ninth. To give credit to the Giants, they had some fight in them, but Pagan pitched a scoreless inning nevertheless.
To put all of this in layman’s terms: the Giants were three outs away from their first sweep of the season, but the bullpen blew a 9-3 lead in the ninth inning.
Tony Vitello had even sacrificed himself to get the sweep, but to no avail.
Through the chaos and heartbreak, Tony Santillan got the win; Dylan Smith took the loss; and Emilio Pagan picked up the save.
Yes, this was heartbreaking. As much of a nightmare as this season has been, the Giants were finally going to sweep a three-game series. That would have been a nice little accomplishment. It would have been Tony’s first three-game sweep as a big league manager. Then they blew it.
The Giants fall to 54-79. They have also lost their 10th game when leading in the ninth inning this season.
Maybe, some people can point to Wednesday’s game as the true rock bottom for the Giants. However, as I have said over the last three months, this entire season has been rock bottom for the Giants. Wednesday’s heartbreaker was just another episode.
Now, the Arizona Diamondbacks will come in for four starting Thursday night. There will be games Thursday night and Friday night, followed by a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.
The Diamondbacks are just a game back of the San Diego Padres for the third wild card spot in the National League, so the Giants will have a chance to play spoilers. Unfortunately, the Giants are 1-8 against the Diamondbacks this season.
Starting pitchers for Arizona RHP Jose Cabrera (0-2 ERA 5.60) for San Francisco RHP (7-13 ERA 4.34) on Thursday Night Baseball
First pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.
