What we learned when the Reds hit four home runs off Harrison in the Giants’ loss originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Less than 24 hours after celebrating the highlight of their 2024 MLB season to this point, the Giants were quickly brought back to reality during a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.
Release after Blake Snell’s brilliant no-hitter, Kyle Harrison was hit early and often, with his day ending after hitting his fourth home run of the afternoon. Two of the Reds’ home runs came from Tyler Stephenson, who had homered just once in his previous 15 games.
San Francisco’s struggles at the plate this season continued, largely due to a strong performance by Cincinnati starting pitcher Hunter Greene. Greene allowed one hit and had 11 strikeouts in six solid innings to win his third consecutive decision.
The Giants were finally able to move forward after Greene’s departure. They also had help from the Reds’ defense.
Matt Chapman doubled ahead in the seventh against Justin Wilson and took third when Cincinnati center fielder TJ Friedl bobbled the ball. As Chapman was falling to third, Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz hit a relay throw into the dugout, allowing Chapman to get up and score.
Michael Conforto followed with his 11th home run of the season, crushing Wilson’s 3-1 fastball into left field at Great American Ball Park.
Jerar Incarnation, Called up from Triple-A Sacramento a day earlier, he closed the gap to 6-3 with his first home run of the season, a solo hit by Tony Santillan in the eighth.
Chapman hit his 16th home run of the season against Reds closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning.
Tyler Fitzgerald, who before the game was named the NL Rookie of the Month for July, was hitless and struck out three of his four hits.
Here are the takeaways from Saturday’s game:
Looking for 0.500
Manager Bob Melvin insisted the most important obstacle for the Giants now is getting back to the .500 mark. They had a chance to do so on Saturday, but missed the opportunity to cash in.
It has been more than two months since San Francisco was even. That was on May 31, when the Giants were 29-29.
Since then, it has been a struggle to get anything consistent, although the Giants have won seven of their previous nine games.
At 55-57, the Giants still have time to make the playoffs, and it will most likely have to be through the wild card. San Francisco entered the day four games behind the San Diego Padres and New York Mets for the third NL wild card spot.
Harry unhappy
Harrison was unable to maintain his good pitching momentum for the Giants and was eliminated from the game after recording just 11 strikeouts – the second shortest start of his MLB career.
It was fast and it was ugly.
The Reds hit four home runs against Harrison, equaling the most he has hit in a single game in the majors. He was also hit with four home runs by the San Diego Padres on September 2, 2023, in Harrison’s third career start.
Harrison’s six runs allowed matched his career high, tying the six he gave up to the Padres in that 2023 game.
SF Bats is no match for Greene
Greene had the Giants’ offense humming for most of the afternoon, exposing San Francisco’s biggest weakness with a scorching fastball that dazzled the orange and black hitters.
The All-Star right-hander struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Michael Conforto’s single in the fourth.
Greene was particularly nasty with his four-seam boat, which he routinely clocked in the mid-90s. Greene generated 20 swings and errors with his fastball and slider. Even when the Giants were able to catch up, they didn’t make much hard contact.
