Dateline: Cincinnati
Spencer Steer and Sal Stewart swatted home runs off Robbie Ray to stake the Reds to a 2-0 lead after four innings. It was the third of the season for Steer and the fifth for Stewart.
Brady Singer and the bullpen made the home runs stand up in a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
The Reds only got three hits as Elly De La Cruz singled in the sixth inning but pushed Ray's pitch count to 94, nine of them on Stewart's home run at bat.
"In an era of baseball when you're not supposed to talk about the top hand, he has a great top hand," Terry Francona said. "He can really get on top of the ball. I know it's not a popular term in today's game but I love it. Everybody is talking about doing this (swinging up at the ball). If he'd have done that he'd have missed it. It is easy for me or somebody else to say go that way (hit to the opposite field) and get rewarded for it. You're doing something really good when you hit the ball that way. But to hit about out, that's not easy to do. It was a great at bat."
The pitch by Ray was up in the strike zone. He won the American League Cy Young award in 2021 pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.
"It was a good pitch by him. I was able to get a good swing on it," Stewart said. "He's a good pitcher. He's Cy Young for a reason. We had a lot of good at bats. People will say we only got three hits. He had 97 pitches in five innings. If that's not a testament to having good at bats, I don't know what is."
Singer, who allowed six runs in 2 2/3 innings in his last start which was against the Miami Marlins, scattered four hits in the first four innings, one in each frame.
"The X-rays came back negative. Obviously, it hurts a little bit but we're good," Singer said. "The shape of the slider was a lot better. The velo (velocity) back better than it was the last time in Miami. We did some good mechanical work this round in the bullpen. I liked the command and location too. I was able to attack hitters. I was able to get some ground balls the defense did a good job tonight, too."
"Getting through the sixth was huge," Singer said. "I've had some short outings this year. The last two pitches after the football was kind of tough. Sal made a great play on it too. If I can keep kicking it to people, I'll take it. The last three guys out of the bullpen were incredible."
Willy Adames cut the lead in half with his solo home run with two outs in the fifth inning off Singer. It was his third of the season and the 20th home run against the Reds in his career, more than he's hit against any other team.
Jung Hoo Lee hit a sharp line drive off Singer's leg that bounded to Stewart at first. He was checked by the trainer, Sean McQueeney checked him but he stayed in the game to complete the sixth inning.
"He got hit pretty good on the right foot. He had an X-ray and it came back negative. We have to keep an eye on him the next couple days," Francona said. "I didn't look at the velocity. I looked at the crispness of his pitches. He i thought he was crisp. I thought he threw his breaking ball good. We turned some double plays."
"I was a little nervous when I went out there. He said something like, I've got this last hitter or something like that. I told DJ (Derek Johnson) we better get somebody up," Francona said. "I knew he was hurting."
Ray only allowed the two hits in his five innings, along with four walks. He struck out six.
Singer dropped his ERA by over two runs per game to 5.60 with six solid innings. He allowed six hits, and hit a batter but issued no free passes and struck out one.
Graham Ashcraft took over for Singer to start the seventh inning. Ashcraft struck out two batters in a perfect inning. Tony Santillan allowed a single and a walk but the Reds turned a double play to take the lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Emilio Pagan came out to save his fifth game in six tries. He finished off the Giants on seven pitches, striking out one but winced on his last pitch.
"His hammy grabbed him a little bit on that last pitch," Francona said. "He's being checked out right now."
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