The Cincinnati Reds will try to give Terry Francona his second win as their manager on Sunday afternoon when they host the San Francisco Giants in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Emilio Pagan, who earned the save in Cincinnati’s 3-2 victory on Saturday, walked in during Francona’s post-game press conference to hand him the game ball.
“Your first one,” Pagan said in placing the ball on the dais in front of Francona.
“You would think that after all these years, I couldn’t even breathe in the ninth inning,” said Francona, who is in his 25th season as a major league manager, with 1,951 wins and 1,673 losses, including his most recent stint with Cleveland. “Perspective, I have none. I showed up here this morning quarter of 9, all I want to do is win. So to hear music (after a win) is pretty cool.”
The Reds will send right-hander Nick Martinez (10-7, 3.10 ERA in 2024) to the mound on Sunday to make his first start of this season.
In contrast to 2024, when he was moved between the rotation and the bullpen, Martinez enters this season locked into Cincinnati’s third spot in the rotation behind Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo.
Martinez finished strong last season, as he was named the National League pitcher of the month for September after posting an 0.83 ERA with 30 strikeouts over five starts.
Martinez is 9-4 with a 3.10 ERA lifetime in 13 appearances (two starts) against San Francisco. He was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four spring training appearances.
“We had a good camp. Body feels great,” Martinez said. “This (rotation) has a lot of potential. Hunter looked great the other day. Lodolo looked great all spring. And I think there’s a high ceiling for us, for this rotation, and for the staff as a whole.”
The Giants will counter with left-hander Robbie Ray, making his first start of his second season with San Francisco. Ray returned from Tommy John surgery in 2023, and he was 3-2 with a 4.70 ERA in seven starts in 2024 before a hamstring injury ended his season in late August.
Ray is 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA in six career starts against Cincinnati.
Before Saturday’s game, the Giants announced that outfielder Jerar Encarnacion is expected to miss eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a left hand fracture.
Encarnacion will be in a splint for two weeks before his rehab begins and will be out of action until at least June.
“I think we were always looking at that, to tell you the truth,” San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said.
Encarnacion suffered the injury after jamming his left ring finger while attempting to make a diving catch in right field in the final week of spring training.
Taking his place to start the season is 26-year-old Casey Schmitt, who started Saturday’s game as San Francisco’s designated hitter.
Schmitt batted .311 with four home runs in 26 games against lefties in 2024.
“You look at the history, he’s done some damage there,” Melvin said. “It’s one of the reasons he made the team. With no Jerar, we wanted to add another righty bat that hits lefties well.”
–Field Level Media
