CINCINNATI -- For a while, it looked like the Giants might have a chance to celebrate a no-hitter at Great American Ball Park for the second consecutive season.
Seven months after Blake Snell no-hit the Reds, fellow left-hander Robbie Ray flirted with making his own history, opening his season debut with five perfect innings on Sunday afternoon.
Perfection ultimately wasn¡¯t in the cards for Ray, who couldn¡¯t get out of the sixth after giving up a leadoff single to Gavin Lux followed by back-to-back home runs to Austin Wynns and Matt McLain, though he still picked up his first win of the season after helping the Giants edge the Reds, 6-3, in Sunday¡¯s series finale.
Ray and Cincinnati starter Nick Martinez matched each other with four perfect innings before Heliot Ramos delivered the first hit for either side in the fifth, launching a solo shot out to left field for his second home run of the year.
¡°I could tell that maybe the innings were moving fast on both sides,¡± Ray said. ¡°[Martinez] was pitching really well. I was pitching really well. We were going back and forth. Guys say they don¡¯t know, but you always know. You just try not to think about it.¡±
San Francisco added on behind Jung Hoo Lee¡¯s two-out RBI double and Matt Chapman¡¯s two-run homer -- his first of 2025 -- the following inning, handing Ray a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
Ray retired the first 15 batters he faced, but he lost his bid for a perfect game after Lux singled up the middle to start the sixth. Chapman then made a spectacular diving play to rob Blake Dunn of extra bases, but a pitch-clock violation seemed to further disrupt Ray¡¯s flow during his next at-bat against Wynns. The 33-year-old veteran wasn¡¯t happy with home-plate umpire Manny Gonzalez¡¯s call and ended up hanging his next pitch -- a slider that Wynns drove out to left field for a two-run shot. McLain followed with another homer that barely cleared the left-center-field fence, cutting the Giants¡¯ lead to 4-3.
¡°I was frustrated,¡± Ray said of his pitch-clock violation. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was a violation. I¡¯m pretty sure I started before it got to zero. I have to go back and look at it, but it definitely is frustrating because it messes up my pitch sequencing in that at-bat, and then I¡¯m frustrated and leave the pitch up. But we move on. We won. It was a big team win right here. Big series win to start the season. It¡¯s all that matters right now.¡±
Ray was removed after issuing a one-out walk to Santiago Espinal, having allowed three runs on three hits over 5 1/3 innings.
While Ray¡¯s new changeup was a big focal point for him this spring, he primarily leaned on his fastball to stymie the Reds, throwing his heater 60 percent of the time on Sunday.
¡°I felt like the fastball command was really good today,¡± Ray said. ¡°My slider was good. The changeup felt good. I was using it when I needed to. But I think mostly it was the fastball command. I was able to move it in and out, up and down. That¡¯s kind of how things get rolling, when my fastball command is there.¡±
San Francisco tacked on a pair of insurance runs via Willy Adames¡¯ sacrifice fly and Ramos¡¯ two-out RBI single in the eighth, then escaped a jam in the bottom half of the inning thanks to another assist from Chapman.
The Reds had runners on second and third with one out, but Chapman fielded a grounder from Espinal and alertly went to tag out Jacob Hurtubise, who ran out of the baseline as he attempted to advance from second to third. The five-time Gold Glover didn¡¯t stop there, as he kept the highlight-reel play going by throwing to first base to complete a 5-3 double play to end the inning.
¡°Sometimes if you just let the game show you what to do, good things will happen,¡± Chapman said.
¡°That play is huge,¡± Giants manager Bob Melvin said. ¡°Nobody else makes that play where you even have the presence to think about going to get to the runner and then on the run make that play at first base. ¡ There¡¯s just so much riding on that.¡±
Ryan Walker was unavailable to pitch the ninth due to back tightness, but the Giants had the luxury of turning to erstwhile closer Camilo Doval, who worked a 1-2-3 inning to seal the club¡¯s first series victory of 2025.
¡°We¡¯re lucky to have that dynamic,¡± Melvin said. ¡°Someone who¡¯s pitched in that role before and been successful before. If ever you can withstand something like that, it¡¯s having a guy like Duvie that everybody feels confident in.¡±