Yes, new manager Terry Francona’s first foray in a Reds uniform turned to tattered rags. Some fans already are calling the Reds, “The Eighth Blunder of the World.”
And Francona was correct when he said he wasn’t enamored about opening days because if you lose fans believe you’re terrible and if you win fans believe you are going to win the World Series.
If that’s the case, for eight innings Thursday the Reds were on their way to a World Series. Everything was perfect, everything was going swimmingly. Fans wondered when playoff tickets would go on sale.
Hunter Greene was throwing sleeping pills at the Giants, even though he said afterward that he was missing a secondary pitch.
“I honestly didn’t have any of my pitches and I was just trying to pitch, do my job and keep my team in the game,” he said.
That he accomplished. He went five innings and gave up two runs, three hits, one walk and struck out eight.
Unfortunately, his one walk preceded one of the three hits, a two-run opposite field home run by Heliot Ramos Jr., an 11-pitch at bat during which he fouled off five straight 3-and-2 pitches.
The Reds, though, still led, 3-2.
Elly De La Cruz gave a hint at what might be this season. In his first at bat, he showed steadfast discipline, laying off a close 3-and-2 pitch for a walk.
On his second at bat, he poked an opposite field single to left field, didn’t try to pull an outside pitch. And he scored both times.
Jeimer Candelario, a bust last season, singled home De La Cruz in the first and singled home two more runs in the third, a hint of positive things that might be coming.
“Candelario came to camp looking good,” said Francona. “I thought he was good the whole spring. It was obvious that he had worked.”
After Greene left, Francona pushed the right buttons for three consecutive innings with whom he chose to come out of the bullpen.
Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan each pitched an inning and all three pitched perfect innings with two strikeouts each.
Perfection personified.
Then came the ninth inning and a curious decision by Francona, probably his only mishap of the game ... but the mishap was a train wreck.
He brought in Ian Gibaut to protect the 3-2 lead, to close it out, to send most of the 43.876 home wondering when World Series tickets would go on sale.
Instead Gibaut, and Francona, sent them home grumbling and posting on social media, “Same old Reds.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
There is no doubt that on this day Gibaut’s plasma turned to tapioca and probably displayed to Francona that he is not a cold-blooded closer.
Why Gibaut? As it turned out, it was like going to an IHOP and ordering a Pop Tart instead of a crepe suzette.
It would seem Francona had a better alternative than Gibaut. He had Brent Suter and Taylor Rogers sitting in the bullpen. Maybe neither is a crepe suzette, but both own some saves in their past.
Pitching Rogers would have been neat. His twin brother, Tyler Rogers, pitched a scoreless inning for the Giants.
Taylor, the left-handed version of the identical twins, pitched with his brother last season on the Giants and he might have had some incentive to show the Giants that they might miss him this year.
Or he might have folded the same way Gibaut did. Nobody will ever know.
What we do know is that Gibaut started the inning by striking out ever-dangerous Willy Adames. Then he walked Jung Hoo Lee and gave up a single to Matt Chapman, putting two on with one out.
He struck out Ramos and was one out from turning the day from gloom to glory. But he gave up a single to Patrick Bailey that tied it, 3-3.
Still, he was one out from sending the game into extra innings. And Francona left him in to pitch to designated hitter Wilmer Flores.
Ka-boom ... a three-run homer over the left field wall and the Reds trailed, 6-3, and fans fled Great American Ball Park as if somebody lit a stink bomb in the stands.
The stink, though, emanated from the mound at that point.
Despite the spirit-crushing home run, the Reds tried to make amends. With two outs, pinch-hitter Jacob Hurtubise was hit by a pitch and stole second. He scored on T.J. Friedl’s single, cutting that lead to 6-4.
And that brought up the potential tying run in Matt McLain. But he lofted a fly ball to left field, completing an 0-for-5 afternoon.
So Opening Day is history, an Opening Day that left a bad taste, especially in Francona’s mouth. Francona is glad the pomp and circumstance and all the folderol wrapped around Opening Day is over.
He prefers the other 161 games when he doesn’t have to attend a press conference every other hour, when things are more normal.
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