SAN FRANCISCO — The guttural roar on the shores of McCovey Cove half past 4 on Saturday afternoon was no ordinary home run celebration. Even for a grand slam, the response was disproportionate. This was an entire fan base’s worth of pent-up anxiety untethered on one swing from Matt Chapman.
What a glorious swing it was, connecting with a belt-high heater from Cincinnati starter Nick Lodolo and driving it over the 399′ sign, into the sun-soaked center-field bleachers, where fans rejoiced over the big hit their team had seemingly lacked since the earliest days of the season.
The grand slam was about all the offense the Giants got, but it was all they needed to beat the Reds, 5-1, and pick up their first win in eight times through Blake Snell’s rotation spot, filled for a second consecutive start by rookie right-hander Mason Black.
“We’ve been grinding a bit, not playing out best baseball, so to be able to jump out early like that was huge,” Chapman said. “I think we can build off a game like today.”
The crowd of 37,321 didn’t sit down until Chapman returned to the dugout. They gave him a second round of cheers when the inning concluded.
“I could barely hear it over the dugout going crazy,” said Black, who came one out shy of earning his first career win with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball.
It was one of the Giants’ most productive of the season, scoring more runs in one inning than they had in 12 of their past 15 games. They had been held to three runs or fewer in 23 of their 40 games entering Saturday, more often than any team except the Cardinals and White Sox.
Tacking on one more with a sacrifice fly from Patrick Bailey in his first game back from concussion protocol, the Giants improved to 11-0 when scoring five or more runs. No other team is undefeated when reaching that total, but only the A’s have plated at least five fewer times.
The swing from Chapman came with two strikes and two outs. If he had missed, the inning would have simply been remembered as another on a long list of missed opportunities with runners in scoring position. The Giants entered Saturday’s game batting .239 in those situations, eighth-worst in the majors. They had come to bat with the bases loaded 26 times and, besides Michael Conforto’s grand slam in the third game of the season, produced 11 runs on five hits.
When Chapman stepped in the box, more of his plate appearances over the previous 12 games had ended in strikeouts than hits. It had been 21 games since he last homered, a drought matched only four previous times in his career.
“For me, a good swing like that is something you can build off and know that’s the kind of swing I want to repeat,” Chapman said. “I’ve just been trying to get into a consistent position to get a swing off like that. I’ve been a little bit off balance or a little bit in between, so to get a swing off like that feels good, and you just work on trying to repeat that.”
That the breakthrough came in the first inning was all the more remarkable. The Giants had scored 11 runs all season in their first trip to the plate, tied with the A’s for the second-fewest in the majors.
With one swing, Chapman helped change the tide for himself and the Giants offense while allowing Black to pitch with a lead for the bulk of his second major-league start.
“A grand slam in the first inning is a really big deal, especially against a really good pitcher,” Melvin said. “Now as a pitcher you can go out there and you don’t feel like you have to be perfect all the time and every pitch isn’t the last pitch of the game for you. So, it was a bit of a relief to score a crooked number in the first.”
Making his Oracle Park debut, Black limited the Reds to a lone run — on an Elly De La Cruz home run in the fourth inning — over 4 1/3 innings before Melvin called on Taylor Rogers to record the final out of the fifth and get out of a bases-loaded jam.
One of the most aggressive base running teams in the majors, the Reds’ philosophy backfired a day after their activity on the bases helped them to a series-opening win. On two occasions, Cincinnati batters sent singles into right field and took wide turns at first base.
First, Will Benson challenged Heliot Ramos after leading off the second. The rookie right fielder fired a rope to Casey Schmitt, who applied the tag that replay review determined beat Benson to the bag. When the message apparently wasn’t received, Ramos made the same fate of Jake Fraley for the second out of the fourth inning.
Shifting to left field when Mike Yastrzemski entered for an injured Michael Conforto, Ramos only added to his highlight reel. On a shallow pop fly from Benson in the fifth, Ramos charged hard, left his feet and made a diving catch to the surprise — and splendor — of his teammates.
“That was really the key to the game,” Melvin said of Ramos’ glove work. “The home run was huge, but being able to make defensive plays all day long … especially at second base when there’s a runner in scoring position, the outfield defense was superb today.”
Notable
Conforto left the game in the fourth inning with a right hamstring strain, Melvin said afterward. He was lifted for a pinch-runner after singling and taking a wide turn around first base. Luis Matos was removed from the River Cats’ game in Salt Lake City, though Melvin said they were hopeful Conforto’s strain was “mild.”
LaMonte Wade Jr. singled in the first inning, eventually scoring on Chapman’s grand slam, to extend his on-base streak to 12 consecutive games.
The other piece of the first-inning rally was catcher Patrick Bailey, who lined an opposite-field single in his first at-bat back from concussion protocol. With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Bailey drove a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field to drive home the Giants’ only other run.
Jung Hoo Lee (bruised left foot) was held out of the lineup for a third consecutive game but went through conditioning drills pregame.
Up next
LHP Kyle Harrison (3-1, 3.20) faces RHP Frankie Montas (2-3, 3.55) in the series finale, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
