SAN FRANCISCO -- Heading to the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park on Wednesday afternoon, the in-stadium speakers blasted Rage Against the Machine’s “Wake Up” -- seemingly a rallying cry for the home team, which came into the series finale scoreless through the first two games against the Reds’ pitching staff.
The song may have motivated both clubs at the plate, as it turned out. Cincinnati roared to life with a five-run third inning against Justin Verlander, highlighted by Elly De La Cruz’s two-run double and Gavin Lux's two-run single to take a 5-0 lead, surpassing the three runs it had scored over the first two nights combined.
But it was the Giants who ultimately persevered, erasing that early five-run deficit along the way to a walk-off homer struck by Mike Yastrzemski against Emilio Pagán as the Reds dropped the finale, 8-6, in 10 innings.
And though Cincinnati fell short of its first series sweep in San Francisco since 2014, the old adage was proven correct yet again: Two out of three ain’t bad.
Right-hander Nick Martinez held the Giants scoreless the first time through the order before San Francisco pushed across its first run of the series in the fourth. Two innings later, things grew dicey when the Reds’ 6-1 lead shrunk to 6-5, with Martinez lifted in favor of relievers Taylor Rogers and Scott Barlow.
Cincinnati’s offense couldn’t get going again after that point, giving San Francisco enough time to climb back and ultimately spoil the visiting team’s sweep dreams.
“We got a series win against a really good ballclub,” said Martinez, "and we’ve got to use that to keep going. Today was a heartbreaker, but there was good to take out of it.”
The Reds came into this series in the Bay Area looking for a boost, having lost a tough weekend set in Milwaukee and struggling to gain their footing so far this season.
Their first two victories in the series were tense affairs highlighted by dominant outings from Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo as the Reds logged shutouts with scores of 2-0 and 1-0 -- carrying the Majors’ best starters’ era (2.52) entering play Wednesday.
But other than an RBI walk in the sixth, Cincinnati’s bats couldn’t put together much else beyond that five-run eruption, giving the Giants enough time to eventually throw the final punch.
“They kept coming,” said manager Terry Francona. “We didn't have an answer after the fifth inning. You hope it held up, but it didn't. We did some really good things to build the lead, and then they hit their way back into the game.”
Spencer Steer was 3-for-7 with two doubles through the first two games, but went 0-for-4 on Wednesday for a Reds team that was outhit in the contest, 12-6, despite going 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
“Obviously when you win the first two games, you always want to get the sweep, finish the job,” said Steer. “But I think [there were] a lot of positives from the series. I think the pitching was incredible, the defense was incredible. Offense did enough the first two nights, and that's how we fell short today. I think today was a good day for us to really jump on a team when they’re down. We were up 6-1 at one point and had some opportunities to put the game away, but we didn’t get that big hit.”
There were several solid defensive plays made throughout the series, with Wednesday’s high points including a spinning throw home by Martinez on a comebacker to nab a runner at the plate, followed by De La Cruz’s leaping grab on a liner one batter later.
Jacob Hurtubise, whose own slick defense preserved Monday’s win, understands the importance of such plays.
“Defense is going to help a lot, whatever team you’re on,” said Hurtubise. “Being able to go out and make plays for our pitchers is huge, and I definitely think it helped us win some ballgames.”
For a Reds club still trying to find itself as it heads back to Great American Ball Park with a 5-8 record on the still-young season, tough losses like Wednesday’s are all a matter of perspective.
“On the whole, we are playing good baseball,” said Pagán, who took the loss on Wednesday after saving Tuesday’s win. “We're in every game. We’ve got to find a way to not beat ourselves. Take care of the little things and keep showing up with that mentality, and the big things will take care of themselves.”