CINCINNATI -- New Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey was used to experiencing Opening Day jitters during his playing days, but he felt a different set of emotions as he prepared to take in his first opener as an executive on Thursday.
¡°I don¡¯t have near the butterflies that I had as a player,¡± Posey said. ¡°I was telling [manager Bob Melvin] just a minute ago that probably I¡¯ll go up to the booth pretty early and just take in the pageantry of Opening Day. I never did that as a player, really, just because I was hyper-focused on the game. I¡¯m excited to do that.¡±
Posey ultimately got a front-row seat to a dramatic ending at Great American Ball Park, as Wilmer Flores crushed a go-ahead, three-run home run to cap a four-run rally in the top of the ninth inning that lifted the Giants to a 6-4 comeback win over the Reds. The victory was San Francisco's first when trailing through eight innings on Opening Day since April 10, 1968, against the Mets.
San Francisco was down, 3-2, before Jung Hoo Lee walked and Matt Chapman singled to put runners on the corners. Patrick Bailey later lined a two-out RBI single up the middle to tie the game. That brought up Flores, who followed with a three-run shot out to left field to give the Giants their first lead of the game.
¡°It feels good helping the team right away,¡± Flores said. ¡°I was talking earlier to [Willy] Adames. I said, ¡®I have never hit an Opening Day homer.¡¯ And it happened.¡±
Situational hitting wasn¡¯t the Giants¡¯ strong suit last season -- they ranked 24th in the Majors after hitting .234 with runners in scoring position -- but they were determined to get better with men on base this spring and saw those efforts pay off with their late rally on Thursday.
¡°It took to the ninth to get there, but just some tenacious at-bats again in big spots,¡± Melvin said. ¡°We talked a lot about the two-out hitting. In the spring, it was more base hits. That was a homer. Just huge that Flo came up with it, too. Not only is it good for him, it¡¯s good for us. Just a lot of good things came from this game to be able to come back late.¡±
It ended up being quite a memorable gift for Posey, who also celebrated his 38th birthday on Thursday -- and enjoyed his own memorable moment at Great American Ball Park in 2012.
¡°Buster is just a winner,¡± right-hander Logan Webb said. ¡°I¡¯m excited to keep going with him. He¡¯s 1-0 as the president. It¡¯s a good day for him.¡±
Webb made his fourth consecutive Opening Day start for the Giants, though he didn¡¯t factor into the decision after giving up three runs on six hits over five innings. The 28-year-old struck out five, but he also uncharacteristically issued three walks, including back-to-back free passes that set up Jeimer Candelario¡¯s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first.
The Reds extended their lead to 3-0 on Candelario¡¯s two-run single in the third before the Giants finally broke through against Cincinnati flamethrower Hunter Greene in the fourth.
Heliot Ramos -- who became the Giants¡¯ 19th Opening Day left fielder in their past 19 seasons -- won an epic 11-pitch battle against Greene, fouling off five consecutive upper 90s fastballs before driving a 98.7 mph heater out to the right-field corner for a two-run, opposite-field shot that cut the Reds¡¯ lead to 3-2.
¡°It¡¯s almost as big as Flo¡¯s,¡± Melvin said. ¡°That was just huge for us. He hits a two-run homer, and now makes it 3-2. But he made [Greene] throw a bunch of pitches, took a little wind out of his sails, too. The next thing you know, he¡¯s out of the game after five. That at-bat was epic. It really was.¡±
Greene struck out eight and held the Giants to only three hits before departing the game, but San Francisco managed to come alive against right-hander Ian Gibaut, who couldn¡¯t shut the door after hanging a sweeper that Flores banged out to left for the decisive hit of the game in the ninth.
It was an encouraging performance from Flores, who endured a career-worst offensive season while dealing with a nagging right knee injury in 2024, but is already showing the type of production he can deliver when healthy.
¡°We have faith in him,¡± Melvin said. ¡°We saw some really good swings this spring. A healthy Flo is just going to be great for our lineup. To be able to do it in the first game and in dramatics like he typically does -- he¡¯s usually better when there¡¯s more money on the line, and that was huge for him.¡±