Tag: Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds Matt Reynolds swings for an RBI double part of a seven run rally in the top of the third inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Jun 26, 2022 (AP News photo)

Cincinnati (25-47). 10. 15. 1

San Francisco (39-33). 3. 5. 1

Sunday, June 26, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–David Bell’s crew sent Tyler Mahle (2-6,4.57) to the mound for today’s set-to with the San Francisco Giants, while Gabe Kapler & Co. elected to start Anthony DeSclafani (0-1,7.71) as his counterpart. If you just looked at those figures, you’d expect this afternoon’s set-to between the two teams to be a slugfest and it was but a one sided slugfest as the Cincinnati Reds won it in a laugher at Oracle Park in San Francisco 10-2 on Sunday.

You’d be only half right. Although DeSclafani had a horrid afternoon, Mahle acquitted himself handsomely over 6-2/3 innings of pretty decent work. He was charged with three runs, one of which was inherited, all earned, on four hits, one a homer, and a walk, while striking out seven. He threw 97 pitches, of which 30 were balls.

He took the win, his third of the season against six losses, home and lowered his ERA to 4.53. Before a pitch was thrown in anger, the Giants announced a move that many people had been expecting for a while.

They placed Brandon Crawford on the 10 day injured list, effective yesterday, with an inflamed left knee. To fill his place on the roster, San Francisco recalled the versatile Yermín Mercedes, who can catch, play in the infield, and serve as a designated hitter.

San Francisco suffered The Curse of the Leadoff Double in the home second. Joc Pederson bounced a two bagger against the Visa advertisement on the right center field fence and moved to third on Evan Longoria’s fly to deep left.

With the infield drawn in and shifted, Belt took a 1-2 pitch for a third strike. Home plate umpire Néstor Ceja’s call on that pitch raised some eyebrows. With the infield back to normal depth, Darin Ruf went down swinging.

Cininnati didn’t waste its opportunity to draw first blood in the top of the third. Nick Senzel led off by beating Longoria’s poor throw to first for a single to third. Aramis García sacrificed him over to second. After Mas Schrock fanned, Brandon Drury showed us why right centerfield at Oracle is called Triples Alley.

Tommy Pham then made some more enemies in the Bay Area by driving Drury in with a single to center. Drury scored moments later on Joey Votto’s two bagger to right. After Donovan Solano walked, Matt whacked a fly to deep center that kept drifting back until it bounced over the fence for an automatic double.

Alberto Almora, Jr., drove the last nail into DeSciafani’s coffin with a sharp single to left that plated Solano and Reynolds. The Giants’ starter had lasted 2-2/3 innings and given up a half a dozen runs plus the inherited runner he left and who came in on the single Yúnior Marte gave up to Nick Senzel.

All of those runs were earned. DeSciafani also yielded seven hits and a walk, striking out two. His pitch count was 53, 34 of them strikes. He would get tagged with the loss, leaving him 0-2, 9.95. In all, Cincinnati sent 11 men to the plate in their seven run outburst.

Mike Yastrzemski got one of those runs back with. lead off home run in the fourth. His 373 foot drive over the 354 foot sign between the Toyota and Game Up boards in left field was his eighth round tripper of ’22 and came on a 92 mph splitter.

Southpaw Jarlín García, replacing Marte, retired Votto to open the fifth. Then he almost got his head knocked off when Solano lined a single up the middle.

A walk to Reynolds, followed by Almora’s ground out, catcher to first, put runners on second and third with two out. Then everything fell apart for San Francisco’s third pitcher of the afternoon. Senzel grounded to Belt, whose errant throw to García arrived late.

The play was ruled a single and an error on the throw. Both runners scored, one on the hit and the other on the error, making it three for the inning and ten for the game. García did better in the sixth, allowing only an infield single before a strikeout and a double play ended it

After García’s unfortunate intervention, Camilo Doval shut Cincy out in the seventh, as did Dominic Leone in the following frame and John Brebbia in the ninth, ending that inning with a called third strike on Reynolds that led to manager Bell’s ejection by umpire Ceja.

San Francisco put two runs on the board and chased Mahle from the box in the seventh with a one out single by Donovan Walton, pinch hitting for Pederson, and a walk to Longoria. After Belt popped out to second, Ruf singled to left, scoring Walton and allowing Longoria to reach third.

Pham’s throw home from left was wild, which allowed Ruf to advance to second. At this point, Luis Cessa replaced Mahle for the Reds. Estrada beat out a grounder to third, bringing in Longoria and reducing the visitors’ lead to 10-3.

Reiver Sanmartín held the Giants scoreless in the eighth. Art Warren retired San Francisco 1,2,3 in the ninth to end the Giants’ dismal performance on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The struggling home team will have a day off on Monday before facing Tarik Skubal (5-5,3.63) and the Detroit Tigers at 6:45. Carlos Rodón is scheduled to start for the Giants.

Thairo Estrada of the San Francisco Giants while rounding the bases after hitting his sixth home run of the season against the Cincinnati Reds in the bottom of the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Jun 25, 2022 (AP News photo)

Cincinnati (24-47). 2. 5. 0

San Francisco. (39-32) 9. 9. 1

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–About the only bright spots in Friday night’s disappointing San Francisco Giants (39-32) loss to the Cincinnati Reds (24-47) were Evan Longoria’s solo home run shot and the sterling three innings of no run no hit relief turned in by Yúnior Marte, recently called up from Sacramento.

Saturday’s fray offered plenty of them, including solo home runs by Evan Longoria, Thairo Estrada, and Joc Pederson as well as a three run roundtriper by Wilmer Flores which led to a Giant landslide of runs defeating the Red s 9-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

They complimented an outstanding performance by the Giants’ starter, Logan Webb, who brought his large inventory of deliveries to the mound when he toed the rubber at 4:15. He used his arsenal of four seam fastballs, sliders, changeups, cutters, and sliders to good effect.

Webb was in command today, hurling six innings without allowing an earned run He yielded only two hits and two walks while striking out six. He threw 97 pitches, 55 for strikes, on his way to his seventh win against two losses and lowering his ERA to 3.04 in the process.

Mike Minor, the Reds’ starter, was on the Kansas City Royals’ injured list when last year’s season ended, and, after being acquired by Cincy late in the off season, was unable to pitch in the bigs until June 6. He came into today’s contest at 1-3,6.97, and had a career record against San Francisco of 3-3, 4.04 with an opponent’s batting average of .227.

He lasted only five innings, in which he threw 96 pitches, and 35 of those were balls. Another three went to home runs, accounting for three of the six runs, all earned, Minor allowed. He walked two and struck out four, taking the loss that brought his season’s record to 1-4, 7.71.

The Giants lost a chance to grab an early lead in their half of the first. Austin Slater led off with a single to left. After Wilmer Flores went down swinging, Joc Pederson dropped a fly that landed just inside the left field foul line that umpire Andy Fletcher called foul.

His ruling was overturned on review, but Pederson, who had stopped running had to remain on first while Slater occupied third. Cleanup hitter Darin Ruf promptly grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, raising the question, which is a pitcher’s best friend, a twin killing or poor officiating?

The Reds’ lucky streak continued in the top of the second, when Webb was touched for an unearned run . With Mike Moustaskas, who had walked, on first and two out, Albert Almora, Jr., hit a bounder to third that Longoria dropped, picked up, and dropped again, allowing Almora to reach first and Moustakas to move up to second. Nick Senzel drove the lead runner in to give the Rheinlanders a 1-0 lead.

Longoria quickly made amends for his costly error, taking an 80 mph knuckle curve 411 feet deep into the left field bleachers. After Mike Yastremski flew out to center, Thairo Estrada gave the fans in the left field bleachers another present, a 375 foot blast off a 91 mph four seam fastball that gave the home team a 2-1 advantage.

The orange and black resumed their relentless attack in the third inning. Slater opened the frame with a full count walk and mtored to third on Flores’s double to deep left. Both runners held on Pederson’s ground dout to second. Ruf’s single to left brought in while Flores moved on to third and then scored on Longoria’s sacrifice fly to center. It now was 4-1 San Francisco.

The Giant offensive continued in the home fourth, Minor issued a full count lead off passport to Estrada, who, with one away, stole second and, one out later, legged it home on Tommy LaStella’s double to right ccnter, upping San Francisco’s lead to four runs.

The Giants extended that lead further in fifth, thanks to Joc Pederson’s 17th round tripper of the year, a 420 foot monster shot that bounced high off the right side of the batter’s eye in centerfield to lead off the inning. It came on an 0-1 countand off an 88 mph four seamer.

Jared Solomon relieved the ineffective Minor at the start of the Giants’ sixth. He didn’t do any better than his predessor. He retired Estrada, his first batter, but walked Wynns and LaStella before striking out Slater. Then Flores took him deep, 379 feet into the left center field bleachers for his ninth dinger of the year. Dauri Moreta followed him in the Giants’ seventh and retired the side in order.

Tyler Rogers put the Reds away 1,2,3 in the seventh before giving way to Sam Long for the eighth. Cincinnati hit him hard. Aramis García led off with a single to right but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

With two out, Brandon Drury connected with an 84 mph change of pace and sent it to the third or fourth row of the left center field bleachers, 360 feet from the plate. In spite of a single to the well booed Tommy Pham, Long escaped without further damaged, and San Francisco still was ahead, 9-2.

Ron Detwiler was on the bump for the Reds when the Giants came to. bat for the last time in their half of the eighth. He put them down in order on a bakers’ dozen of pitches.

Ahead by seven runs after eight innings, Kapler and Company stayed with Long for the Cincinnati ninth.

The rubber game of the series will start tomorrow at 1:05. Tyler Mahle (2-6, 4.57) will handle the pitching chores for the visitors and Anthony DeScalafani (0-1, 7.71) will be on the mound for the Giants.

The Cincinnati Reds Nick Senzel slides into the glove of San Francisco Giants catcher Curt Casali in top of second inning action at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri Jun 24, 2022 (AP News photo)

Cincinnati (24-46). 4. 7. 0

San Francisco. (38-32). 2. 6. 2

Friday, June 24, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–In the morning of June 17, before the start of the first of a seven game trip that would see them play in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, the Giants were in the third place, at 35-27, four and a half games behind the Dodgers in the race for the National League Western Division title.

When the sun rose this morning, they still were in third but, at 39-31, now trailed Los Angeles by five and a half games. While not a disaster, it was not a good swing through the east for boys from the bay.

When tonight’s festivities had ended and the team had absorbed its 4-2 loss, the Giants’ record was 38-32. The Dodgers beat the Braves tonight in Atlanta, so San Francisco’s now is six and a half games behind the division leaders.

Their opponents in tonight’s contest, the first of a three game weekend series, the Cincinnati Reds, at least afforded fans of the orange and black a bit of schadenfreude; the Rheinlanders came to a Oracle Park at 23-26, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers, leaders of the NL Central, by a whopping 15-1/2 games.

There is, however, at least one bright spot in the sorry picture the Reds present. He is Graham Ashcraft, a 24 year old rookie right handed pitcher who came to town sporting a record of 3-1,3.57 for the woebegone cellar dwellers.

He features, in descending order of frequency, a cut fastball, slider, sinker, and change of his pace. He was Cincinnati’s starting pitcher Friday night. One of the fielders behind him (at least in certain shifts) was recent Giant second baseman, now Reds third sacker, Donovan Solano, making only his eighth appearance since recovering from a hamstring injury that had kept him on the IL almost all season long.

Facing him for the Giants was Alex Cobb, who took the mound at 3-2, 5.62. In his last start, which came five days ago and was his first since coming off the injured list, the Pirates got to him for two runs, both earned and coming from solo homers, on four hits, striking out two.

Although San Francisco lost that game, it was a no decision for the 34 year old right hander. Cobb usually throws two types of fastballs-a two seamer and a four seamer- a curve, and a change of pace. He threw his cutter effectively tonight.

Before the game began, the Giants announced that Zack Littell had been optioned to Sacramento. Replacing him on the active roster was fellow right handed reliever Yúnior Marte, who was recalled from the River Cats.

Cincinnati took an early lead. With one out in the top of the second, Kyle Farmer hit a ground ball to Brandon Crawford, whose throw drew Brandon Bell off the bag at first. It was scored as a hit. Mike Moustakas promptly drove in Farmer with a double to right center, and, after Albert Amora, Jr., struck out, Nick Senzel’s double down the left field line plated Moustakas.

That brought up Aramis García, who sent a soft grounder to Crawford. García beat the throw to first, but Belt´s throw home caught Senzel trying to advance two bases on the play. That ended the inning, with the home team down by two.

Evan Longoria cut Cincinnati’s lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. He did it with a two out blast over the fence, just to the left of the 391 foot sign in center field. It came off an 89 mph slider and was the third baseman’s sixth roundtripper and 13th RBI of the year.

The Reds came roaring back in their next at bat. Senzel started the frame by reaching first on catcher’s interference. After García flew out to center, Jonathan India walked, moving Senzel to second. The two pulled off a double steal while Solano was at the plate.

The ex Giant followed by sending a slow grounder to Crawford, whose errant throw home allowed Senzel to score, upping Cincinnatí´s lead to 3-1 and ending Cobb’s labors for the day. John Brebbia struck out Pham, much to the delight of Joc Pederson’s fans in the crowd, walked Votto and retired Farmer on a line drive to third that ended the inning.

Cobb had lasted four and a third innings and had given up three runs, two of them earned, although better fielding might have prevented one of them. He surrendered five hits. and a walk, striking out three. 55 of his 80 pitches counted as strikes. He would take the loss, making him 3-3, 5.48 for the season.

Jake McGee followed Brebbia to the mound at the start of the sixth. Moustakas greeted him with a resounding double to left and moved up to 90 feet from home on Almora’s ground out to second. Senzel drove him in with a. line single to left on which Ruf wisely decided not to attempt a circus catch. A strikeout and a fly to center later, the frame. had ended but the gap between the teams had widened to three runs, 4-1.

The freshly recalled Yúnior Marte faced the Reds in their half of the seventh and stayed on to repeat the feat in the eighth. He shut the Redlegs out in the ninth but had to face four batters to do that because he hit García with a pitch.

After setting down 10 Giants in a row, Ashcraft began to tire in the bottom of the eighth. Wilmer Flores, pinch hitting for Walton, led off with a single to center and advanced to second. on Curt Casali’s single to left.

The rookie pitcher still managed to start a 1-6-3 double play before yielding a run producing single to Yastrzemski before Ruf just missed driving the ball out of the park with a fly to the Visa sign in right center that Senzel corralled at the fence.

One time Giant Hunter Strickland came in to pitch the ninth for Cicinnati and earn the save, his third in three opportunities. The Giants’ hopes stayed alive when, with two down in the frame, Longoria walked to bring the potential tying run, inj the person. of Crawford to the plate. But the Strickland struck him out to drive the final nail in the coffin for the night.

Ashcraft had given a very impressive performance in his eight full innings of labor. He held San Francisco to two runs, both earned, on six hits, one a four bagger. and no walks. He struck out eight batters, throwing 104 pitches, of which only 34 were balls, in the process. He now boasts a record of 4-1, 3.27).

The series continues Saturday afternoon at 4:15pm PDT. Cincinnati will send southpaw Mike Minor (1-3, 6.97) against the Giants at the right handed hurler Logan Webb (6- 2,3.26).

Cincinnati Reds pitchers Luis Castillo (left) and Tyler Mahle (right) Mahle sports a Pham! T shirt relating to Reds outfielder Tommy Pham who slapped San Francisco Giant outfielder Joc Pederson over a Fantasy Football game where Pham said Pederson was stashing injured players and was being disrespectful about it. Mahle wore the shirt before the Fri Jun 24, 2022 game at Oracle Park in San Francisco (photo by the Cincinnati Enquirer)

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO–It’s time to revisit The Slap Heard ‘Round Major League Baseball.

Under normal circumstances, a three-game weekend series between a third-place team and a cellar-dweller is really nothing to get all worked up about. However, Friday night hit a little different, as this was the first time the Reds and Giants have seen each other since Cincinnati outfielder Tommy Pham slapped Giants outfielder Joc Pederson over, yes, a fantasy football dispute, prior to a May 27 contest between the two teams.

Reportedly, Pham had accused Pederson of cheating the rules of the league. Meanwhile, Angels star Mike Trout, said league’s commissioner, has gotten caught in the crosshairs, as Pham has called him the “worst commissioner in fantasy sports.”

The confrontation occurred in Cincinnati, and Friday marked the Reds’ first visit to San Francisco this season. So this was the perfect time for Giants fans to return the pettiness, and those in attendance at Oracle Park made it clear that they were here for it.

Boos rained down for Pham when the starting lineups were announced, and when he strode to the plate in the top of the first, the crowd really let the dude have it.

And they weren’t about to let it slide after the first at-bat, either. They kept the same energy with each plate appearance, and during his second trip to the plate in the third, boos were accompanied with “he’s a bum!” chants. To their utter delight, Pham hit into an inning-ending double play moments later.

Since the, well, minor incident, Pham has started to make contact with the baseball. He is hitting .316 with five home runs and has driven in 16 runs in his last 21 games to increase his season average to .253.

Pederson, on the other hand, has been slapping it around all year. He has 16 homers in 2022, which is eighth-most in the National League, to go along with 38 RBI. Furthermore, he has hit .321 since May 24 with nine homers while knocking in 24 runs, and his 1.088 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is the fifth-highest in the majors.

Neither man had much success on Friday, however, as both men finished the night by going 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Pederson has said he has not spoken to Pham since the now-infamous occurrence, so at this point, there is no telling how long this beef will go on. But one thing is for sure: the fans inside Oracle Park made sure that it wouldn’t die down very quickly.

San Francisco Giant Evan Longoria circles the bases after hitting a three run homer in the eighth inning to help defeat the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati on Sun May 29, 2022 (AP News photo)

Eighth Inning Surge Beats Reds 6-4

By Barbara Mason

It has been a tough start for the San Francisco Giants (25-21)on this most current road trip. Dropping two games in a row to the Cincinnati Reds (16-31) was a bit of a shocker to most. The Reds are simply not a good team: they are a club that the Giants should be able to handle.

The second game of this series was a tough loss for San Francisco with some curious decisions made in the ninth inning which may have cost them the game although they had numerous opportunities to come away with this contest. It was a team effort in this loss with 11 runners left stranded when all was said and done.

San Francisco took on the Reds in game three hoping to avoid the sweep. It was not looking good for the Giants until the eighth inning. The Reds again took the early lead in the second inning. Kyle Farmer scored off a Albert Almora Jr. single for the early 1-0 lead.

In the sixth inning the Reds extended their lead. Tyler Naquin doubled driving in Joey Votto for a 2-0 lead and this game was looking like more of the same.

The Giants broke this game wide open in the eighth inning. They saved the best for last. Tommy LaStella scored off a Pederson single followed by a home run by Evan Longoria driving in Wilmner Flores and Joc Pederson taking a 4-2 lead.

San Francisco was not finished: Luis Gonzalez would double driving in Thairo Estrada and Brandon Crawford for a 6-2 lead.

The Reds made some noise in the ninth inning when Albert Almora Jr. hit a home run and Farmer scored but that was it for the Reds and the Giants avoided the sweep. The Giants managed to win this game but again the Reds had more hits than San Francisco but the good new was that the Giants were back on the winning track.

Monday the Giants will take on the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Logan Webb (3-1, 3.54) will take the mound for San Francisco. For Philadelphia Kyle Gibson (3-2, 3.94) will get the nod. First Pitch is scheduled for 1:05 at Citizens Bank Ballpark.

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.