Solo home run not enough offense as Giants fall to Reds in Cincinnati
CINCINNATI - A quick look at the league scoring stats provided all the info needed about the San Francisco Giants' game against the Reds on Tuesday.
The two teams are mired at the bottom of the runs column, and voila, Cincinnati edged the Giants 2-1. All three runs came on homers, solo shots each. The Reds already had their blasts from Spencer Steer and Sal Stewart when Willy Adames went deep in the fifth.
Reds 2, Giants 1
San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
33
1
7
1
1
5
Adames ss
4
1
2
1
0
1
.273
Arraez 2b
4
0
3
0
0
0
.333
Chapman 3b
4
0
0
0
0
0
.273
Devers 1b
3
0
0
0
1
1
.212
Schmitt dh
3
0
0
0
0
1
.341
Lee rf
4
0
2
0
0
0
.207
Ramos lf
4
0
0
0
0
1
.226
Bailey c
3
0
0
0
0
0
.136
a-Susac ph
1
0
0
0
0
0
.583
Oliva cf
3
0
0
0
0
1
.143
Cincinnati
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
24
2
3
2
5
9
Myers cf
3
0
0
0
1
1
.261
McLain 2b
2
0
0
0
2
0
.210
De La Cruz ss
3
0
1
0
0
1
.284
Stewart 1b
3
1
1
1
0
2
.310
Suárez dh
2
0
0
0
1
1
.217
Hinds rf
3
0
0
0
0
2
.000
Steer lf
3
1
1
1
0
0
.185
Benson lf
0
0
0
0
0
0
.179
Stephenson c
2
0
0
0
1
2
.162
Hayes 3b
3
0
0
0
0
0
.073
San Francisco
000
010
000_1
7
0
Cincinnati
001
100
00x_2
3
1
a-flied out for Bailey in the 9th.
E_De La Cruz (1). LOB_San Francisco 7, Cincinnati 3. 2B_Lee (5). HR_Adames (3), off Singer; Steer (3), off Ray; Stewart (5), off Ray. RBIs_Adames (6), Steer (5), Stewart (11). CS_Adames (1), McLain (2).
Runners left in scoring position_San Francisco 3 (Bailey, Ramos 2); Cincinnati 0. RISP_San Francisco 0 for 3; Cincinnati 0 for 2.
Runners moved up_Ramos, Lee. GIDP_Chapman, Suárez, Myers.
DP_San Francisco 2 (Arraez, Adames, Devers; Adames, Arraez, Devers); Cincinnati 1 (De La Cruz, McLain, Stewart).
San Francisco
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Ray, L, 2-2
5
2
2
2
4
6
94
2.42
Kilian
1
1
0
0
1
1
22
1.29
Winn
1
0
0
0
0
2
16
3.68
Walker
1
0
0
0
0
0
13
4.50
Cincinnati
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Singer, W, 1-1
6
6
1
1
0
1
75
5.60
Ashcraft, H, 5
1
0
0
0
0
2
13
2.00
Santillan, H, 6
1
1
0
0
1
1
16
0.00
Pagán, S, 5-6
1
0
0
0
0
1
7
4.82
HBP_Singer (Schmitt).
Umpires_Home, Paul Clemons; First, Quinn Wolcott; Second, Junior Valentine; Third, Brock Ballou.
T_2:19. A_20,690 (43,891).
Daniel Susac pinch hit for Patrick Bailey with two outs in the ninth and nearly tied it up off Emilio Pagan with a drive to the warning track in left.
"As soon as he took a clean swing, and you obviously know their guy in there to finish the game - you figure with that combination the ball will go a little bit and it was jumping pretty good in BP," manager Tony Vitello said.
It went 379 feet and Will Benson caught it in front of the wall. That was the entire game, really, but please read on.
Robbie Ray was on the mound for the Giants; he has been the team's best starter and Steer's leadoff homer in the third ended Ray's 12-inning scoreless stretch. Stewart's homer, in the fourth, was an impressive piece of hitting on a high 3-2 fastball that he took the other way. He has five homers to lead the Reds.
"That's one you tip your cap to because you made a good pitch above the zone, the guy somehow just clips it perfect," Ray said. "You look back at it and you can't really get mad, because I felt like made a good pitch."
The Giants, who have lost three straight, have hit only nine homers, total, the fewest in the majors. The Dodgers, for contrast, have the most (of course they do) with 29. A 20-homer difference less than three weeks into the season is eye-popping.
"I don't think that's something we're going to live and die by," Vitello said of hitting homers. "But I do think that there are guys with the capability of doing that. … I haven't really put a thumb on it. There's been a couple that have been close but no cigar. Tonight's game was close but no cigar."
San Francisco is emphasizing contact hitting more than power hitting these days, but the assumption was that even with adding a high-average player such as second baseman Luis Arraez that the bigger boppers would still do their thing. Rafael Devers has two homers. Matt Chapman one. Heliot Ramos none.
"We have a ton of guys that have power on this team - Chappy, Ramos, Rafi obviously, can hit a lot of homers," Adames said. "I know it's going to come."
It's Adames, the leadoff man and shortstop, who leads the Giants with three homers. Adames hit 30 last year, so this isn't any sort of anomaly, but Devers, in particular, is more quiet than anticipated, batting .212 with five walks and 20 strikeouts in 17 games, but according to Giants officials, he's healthy.
"He's competing his butt off," Vitello said. "He's got such a pretty swing and it's really handsy, and at times, that kind of gets gobbled up by a little extra body in there, maybe from a little extra effort, maybe from a little too-try-hard."
Devers, who hit 35 homers last year, tends to be a bit of a slow starter; he didn't hit his second homer last year until Game 22, his third in Game 28. In seven previous Aprils, he averaged 4.9 homers compared to 6.4 in May - and he has a career .304 average in May, to boot.
The Giants are also last in the league in walks, with 34. The major-league leading Angels have 86. And at 6-11, the Giants are tied for the majors' worst record.
Steady bat Arraez was back in the lineup after missing Sunday's game with a hand injury incurred the previous day, when Baltimore's Dylan Beavers inadvertently kicked him while Arraez was trying to field a grounder. Arraez had three hits ("He played like a kid who you put in timeout or you took his ball away from him, and then you let him go back out," Vitello said) and Adames and Jung Hoo Lee both had two, but San Francisco continues to be unable to put together enough hits for consistent rallies.
Arraez also played well in the field, one of the ongoing positive developments of the season, especially given his desire to play the position was so strong he turned down multi-year offers elsewhere because the Giants said he'd play second.
"He made two really good plays there at the end, a diving catch and then (starting) a double play," Ray said of two gems from Arraez in the fifth. "'I know he and (Ron Washington) get out there and they're working hard together; it definitely shows that he wants to be out there and he takes it seriously."
The team was without center fielder Harrison Bader again. Initially he was a lineup consideration but he wound up getting a second game off in a row with what Vitello described as a continuation of some of the leg issues Bader had during the spring, so hamstring tightness. He's had hamstring issues much of his career.
With Bader out, Jared Oliva made his second start of the season. Should the Giants need to turn to Triple-A Sacramento for outfield help, Will Brennan was batting .392 going into the River Cats' game at Tacoma on Tuesday night. San Francisco is unlikely to bring up any prospects to sit on the bench, but if a regular such as Bader were to miss much time, that might change the equation.
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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 7:15 PM.