© David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
Anthony DeSclafani’s return to Cincinnati hit an early bump. He promptly smoothed it over, and the Giants’ day went much the same in a 4-2 win over the Reds.
That early misfortune for San Francisco came in two forms. DeSclafani, after building an 0-2 count to the Reds’ leadoff batter and the National League’s batting average leader Jesse Winker, let a slider catch a bit too much of the plate, and Winker snuck it out for a leadoff home run. According to the Giants’ broadcast, it was the first hit DeSclafani has allowed on an 0-2 count all year.
In the ensuing half-inning, a Wilmer Flores walk was followed by an Alex Dickerson double, which, if you know your baseball, should almost always equal a run. Instead, Flores pulled up lame as he was rounding second, and hobbled his way to third.
He was immediately evaluated and just as quickly removed from the game with hamstring tightness. For a team that began the year as deep as anyone at second base, it left San Francisco suddenly shorthanded, with Mauricio Dubon the only natural fit at second.
Donovan Solano (hamstring, 10-day IL) will play a full rehab assignment in Sacramento tonight, and while the Giants may have preferred to have him return for this weekend’s series against the Dodgers, there is now a bit of urgency that might have him on his way to Cincinnati.
The rest of the night was defined by DeSclafani’s brilliance against his former team, and Dickerson discernibly snapping an early season duck. missing out on the most difficult part of the cycle. While he was robbed of an RBI on his second-inning double, he got another crack thanks to Flores’ replacement, Dubon.
Dubon followed a Brandon Crawford opposite-field single with a bloop single of his own, leaving Dickerson to drive everyone home with a borderline one-handed home run to right field that got out quick, and to the right part of the park.
GOODBYE 💣 pic.twitter.com/OthzIAtUX4
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 18, 2021
As mentioned, Dickerson missed out, as many players do, on the triple part of the cycle, but added a lined single over the outfield-shifted second baseman at 105.7 miles per hour off the bat.
There was a nice moment of trust from Gabe Kapler for his starter late on. He let DeSclafani not only continue into the seventh inning (against the team he spent the six prior seasons with) as he approached 100 pitches on the day, but kept him in the game with a runner on and facing the same red-hot Winker who took him deep earlier. DeSclafani and Kapler were both rewarded with a hard hit grounder that found Dubon’s glove for an inning-ending out.
Those late innings featured a couple of solo home runs on either side, with the top of the seventh seeing yet another Brandon Crawford home run. It was his 10th on the year, which is third-most in the National League, and ties him with Trea Turner for the most from shortstops in the majors. He’s been stellar this season.
NL HR Leaders:
1. Acuna Jr. – 12
2. Freeman – 11
3. Crawford – 10 👀pic.twitter.com/4wMW09xFAF— KNBR (@KNBR) May 19, 2021
On the other end, a hanger from Zack Littel to Nick Castellanos, again on the same 0-2 count that DeSclafani missed on to Winker at the start of this one, was punished for an inconsequential Reds home run.
Jake McGee got back on track in another save opportunity, closing out the ninth without issue, and securing his 11th save of the year, and the Giants’ National League-best 26th win of the year.
