The positives were lengthy.
— The Reds have clinched the series, their first of the season and their first over the Giants after losing the previous four series to them.
— The Reds won two games in a row for the first time this season.
— The Giants are 8-3 and all three losses were at the hands of the Reds.
— There have been seven 1-0 games in MLB this season and the Reds have been involved in four, losing the first three.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The offense is still floating in the gutter but pitching and defense have kept the team in every game of their 4-7 season.
They’ve scored only three runs in the two games, but the Giants are on an 18-inning scoreless streak, thanks to Hunter Greene’s beauty Monday night and the Lodolo-Ashcraft-Pagan combination Tuesday.
Lodolo, struggling with his command early, still covered six innings on three hits, a walk and three strikeouts. Ashcraft pitched two scoreless and Pagan finished it off with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Lodolo was not as dominant as Greene and had to pitch his way out of a few dilemmas.
“Four 1-0 games is astronomical for this time of year,” said Reds manager Terry Francona. “We’ve played good baseball. We didn’t smack the ball all over the field, but we had some hits (8).”
The Reds scored the run they needed in the third off Giants starter Landen Rouff.
Spencer Steer entered the game with a triple sticks average, .111, but led the third with a double. He took third on Jake Fraley’s line single to center and scored on Jose Trevino’s grounder to shortstop.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
And that was it.
“We had a couple of opportunities we didn’t cash in on, but we still played good baseball and we pitched really, really well,” said Francona.
Of Lodolo, Francona said, “It’s funny because there were four innings (actually, three) when the leadoff hitter was on and that’s not normally a good recipe for keeping them off the scoreboard.”
Lodolo didn’t walk a batter during his first two starts, but walked the first batter he faced, Heliot Ramos. And he reached third before Lodolo coaxed a fly ball out of Matt Carpenter.
Number nine hitter Sam Huff opened the third with a single, his first hit of the season. Lodolo struck out the next two and retired Jung Hoo Lee on a soft liner to second.
Chris Schmitt started the game hitless on the season and had a two-out double in the second. He led the fifth with a single and made it to third base before Lodolo retired the last two on weak fly balls.
Gavin Lux’s one-out error in the sixth put a runner on and he reached second, but a couple more pop-ups ended the Giants last threat.
In the mammoth Oracle Park on a pair of chilly nights, fly balls went nowhere for both teams.
The closest call was in the fifth when the Giants had a runner on third with two outs. Ramos hit one over right fielder Fraley’s head, but he raced near the padded wall and made a diving catch.
“The defense behind me was phenomenal,” said Lodolo. “That play by Fraley, shoot, that won us the game. And we had that great play by Dunn.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
On Monday, Dunn ended the 2-0 game with a diving catch with two on. On Tuesday he prevented the Giants from getting their first man on base in the ninth with a diving catch on Lee’s liner.
“In a game like that, if one play is not made ... we got that chopper over the mound to get the double play,” Francona said. “There were some good defensive plays, but Fraley’s was at the top of the list.”
Ashcraft followed Lodolo with two innings of one-hit pitching with a pair of strikeouts. He gave up a leadoff single to Huff and was bailed out by the chopper -- the chopper that Francona talked about.
Ramos hit one up the middle and second baseman Lux waited for it while standing on the second base for the force out and threw to first for the double play.
And Ashcraft?
“You know what? How about that,” said Francona. “That’s a big ask. The seventh and eighth innings in a 1-0 game isn’t like it’s the third or fourth. He threw a ton of strikes, had good stuff, kept his composure. He has given us another weapon which is going to be very valuable.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Steer entered the series hitting .083 but had a single and a walk Monday and two doubles Tuesday.
“We’ve played really well the last two nights,” he said. “The pitching has been outstanding and defensively we’ve been nails. Our at-bats have been good. We haven’t scored runs but the runs are going to come if we keep swinging the bats like that.
“It’s a tough game, it’s a tough game,” he added. “You have to stick to the process because it’s a long season, we have 151 to go. If we keep pitching the way we are, keep playing defense the way we are, then the wins are going to start stacking up.
“We’ve won the series against a good team and we’re gonna get greedy and go for the sweep tomorrow.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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