SAN FRANCISCO − The fourth series of the season was the charm for the Cincinnati Reds.
In a pitching duel between the clubs for the second consecutive night, the Reds prevailed again over the San Francisco Giants. After Monday’s 2-0 win, Tuesday’s 1-0 margin at Oracle Park on Tuesday was even slimmer, but it gave the Reds their first series sweep of 2025.
A crowd of 30,261 attended Tuesday’s game.
Cincinnati will go for the series sweep on Wednesday (3:45 p.m. ET). The Reds’ Nick Martinez is scheduled to start against the Giants’ Justin Verlander.
“We needed to have some urgency. Not panic, but urgency,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “I felt that in the dugout. There’s been really good energy. Now we’ve got to show up in about 11 hours and go get’em.”
The Reds plated the eventual game-winning run in the third inning on catcher Jose Trevino’s groundout. The play seemed relatively innocuous at the time given the early stage of the game, but Cincinnati’s pitching staff made the run stand up as it recorded its second shutout in as many nights.
Reds starting pitcher Nick Lodolo (2-1, 0.96 ERA) went six scoreless innings, striking out three and scattering three hits. Lodolo was relieved by Graham Ashcraft, who faced the minimum number of batters over two innings where he maneuvered through the heart of the Giants’ lineup.
Emilio Pagán came on for the final three outs, recording his second save of 2025.
“Just attacking the zone and making pitches when I needed to, nothing crazy,” Lodolo said of his start.
Giants’ starter Landen Roupp (0-1) conceded seven hits to Reds batters but limited the damage to the lone run that crossed. The relievers behind him found trouble but ultimately worked out of it.
Trevino’s ground out to in the third inning scored Spencer Steer from third. Steer (2-for-4) doubled to reach base.
In the fifth inning, Trevino had an opportunity to help the Reds tack on, and they attempted to score Steer from third again, this time via a push-bunt and a squeeze play. But the Giants fielded the play well, and Steer was tagged out at home.
The Giants threatened to tie the contest in the bottom of the inning after first baseman Casey Schmitt reached on a single, his second hit of the game to that point. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then third on a fly-out.
Upon reaching third, it then appeared Schmitt would walk across home plate to tie the game on Heliot Ramos’ deep liner to right field, but Jake Fraley backtracked at full speed, caught up with it, and made a sliding catch on the warning track.
“In a game like that, if one play’s not made,” Francona said. “There were some good things that happened defensively and Fraley’s play was at the top of the list.”
Said Lodolo of Fraley’s catch: “Shoot, that won us the game.”
From the the base of the wall, Fraley held the ball aloft to show he’d completed the catch.
While Ashcraft held back the San Francisco bats in the seventh and eighth innings, the Reds made one final attempt to get an insurance run across in their final at-bat.
Gavin Lux doubled and moved to third with just one out, but Jeimer Candelario and Steer struck out to end the threat in the top of the ninth.
Trevino said afterward he felt that the type of hit to put games away for the club was coming, saying: “We’re one big hit away.”
While the Reds couldn’t drive an insurance run in, Francona was encouraged by what he viewed as “good baseball” by his team at the plate. That included Trevino’s failed push-bunt attempt to drive Steer in during fifth inning.
“Would have been nice to get one more. Wish ‘Candy’ (Candelario) would have put the ball in play,” Francona said. “But that’s the way the game is. We hung on.”
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