Postgame Takeaways: Reds Blow Late Lead, Fall to Giants 6-4

The Reds fell to the Giants 6-4 on Thursday afternoon. Here are our postgame takeaways.

The Candy Man Leads the Offense

After Logan Webb struck out TJ Friedl and Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz fought back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk. Gavin Lux followed with a walk, and Jeimer Candelario roped a first pitch sweeper into right field to score De La Cruz and give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, with the bases loaded, Candelario once again ripped the first pitch he saw into right field, scoring TJ Friedl and Elly De La Cruz to give the Reds a three-run advantage,

Greene's Strong Start

Hunter Greene came out of the dugout fired up, retiring the first seven batters he faced. In the fourth, with two outs and a runner on base, Heliot Ramos worked an 11-pitch at-bat before homering to the right field seats to cut Cincinnati's lead one.

Greene pitched five innings, giving up two runs on three hits. He walked a batter and struck out eight. The 25-year-old was replaced by Scott Barlow after throwing 84 pitches.

Bullpen Dominated Middle Innings, Falters Late

After Greene's strong outing, Barlow came in the game in the sixth and worked a perfect 1-2-3 innings. In the seventh, Emilio Pagan followed with a perfect inning.

Tony Santillan struck out Mike Yastrzemski and Tyler Fitzgerald to start the eighth inning before LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a bullet off the bat at 107.6 mph, but Reds' right fielder Jake Fraley made a terrific running grab to end the inning.

To the surprise of many, Ian Gibaut came on in the ninth inning for the save. After getting Willy Adames to strike out to start the inning, he walked Jung Hoo Lee and gave up a single to Matt Chapman to put runners on the corners. He battled back to get Ramos rung up on strikes before giving up the game-tying single to Patrick Bailey.

Four pitches later, Wilmer Flores hit a three-run home run to give the Giants a 6-3 lead.

Rally in Ninth Falls Short

Friedl singled home Jacob Hurtubise in the ninth, but Matt McLain fell just short of a game-tying home run and flew out to the left-field warning track to end the game.

News and Notes

Hunter Greene became the 29th Reds' pitcher since 1900 with multiple Opening Day starts.
Thursday's game was the 139th sellout at Great American Ball Park.
The Reds are 9-14 on Opening Day at Great American Ball Park
Christian Encarnacion-Strand and TJ Friedl both had two hits.
Cincinnati pitchers struck out 17 batters.

Up Next

The Reds are off on Friday before returning to Great American Ball Park to face the Giants on Saturday at 4:10 ET. Nick Lodolo will start on the mound for Cincinnati.

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