Two teams will get a chance to revisit Opening Day when the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants kick off a three-game series Monday night, this time in California.
One team would love a reset, while the other is perfectly content.
The Giants took two of three in their season-opening visit to Cincinnati, sandwiching 6-4 and 6-3 victories around their only loss of the season.
Right-handers Hunter Greene (0-1, 2.25 ERA) of the Reds and Logan Webb (1-0, 3.00) of the Giants, who dueled for the first five innings on Opening Day, will get the ball again in the rematch. Neither figured in the decision.
Greene outpitched Webb in the opener, allowing just two runs and three hits in five innings with eight strikeouts. Webb left the game trailing 3-2, having given up six hits while striking out five.
The Giants won the game with a four-run uprising in the ninth. Patrick Bailey produced a game-tying RBI single with two outs before Wilmer Flores belted a three-run homer.
Late-game heroics have been commonplace for the Giants this season. They had two walk-off hits among their three wins against the Seattle Mariners, one in the 11th by Willy Adames on Friday and a second by Flores in the ninth on Sunday.
“Leave it up to Flores. He’s the guy you want in that situation,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said after the series finale against Seattle, which ran San Francisco’s winning streak to seven games.
“He knows what to expect; he knows how to handle it. He wasn’t trying to do too much — slow roller between first and second. I don’t want to say it was a surprise, not a surprise. … He’s done it so often.”
Greene pitched even better his second time out, limiting the Texas Rangers to one run and three hits in seven innings. He once again struck out eight but was tagged with the loss in a 1-0 game.
The 25-year-old has yet to lose in three career starts against the Giants, going 2-0 with a 1.10 ERA. His only previous visit to San Francisco resulted in a 4-1 win on Aug. 30 2023, when again he was matched up with Webb.
Greene allowed just an unearned run and three hits in his 5 1/3 innings that day. Webb, who took the loss, also pitched well in holding the Reds to two runs and seven hits over six innings.
The Reds flew into San Francisco on Sunday night after dropping three of four in Milwaukee. They’ve lost all three series this season, with the Texas Rangers taking a 2-1 set in Cincinnati in between the Reds’ shortcomings against the Giants and Brewers.
Carson Spiers, the Reds’ starting pitcher in the 8-2 loss in Milwaukee on Sunday, boarded the flight to San Francisco hoping a change of scenery would benefit his slumping club.
“We’ve got to move on,” he said. “We’ve got San Fran right now, so worry about them.”
Webb generally has pitched in bad luck against the Reds, compiling only a 2-2 record despite a fine 2.13 ERA in seven games, six of which were starts. The 28-year-old hasn’t recorded a win against Cincinnati since 2022.
Like Greene, Webb improved over a good performance in the opener with a great one his last time out, beating the Houston Astros 3-1 with seven innings of one-run, five-hit ball.
–Field Level Media
