The Giants won’t go undefeated on their road trip.
In the midst of its longest time away from Oracle Park all season, San Francisco dropped its first game since July 7.
A late-inning comeback never materialized as the Giants (54-42) couldn’t tough Cincinnati’s high-leverage relievers while facing a one-run deficit. The 3-2 defeat ends a seven-game winning streak for the Giants, who still have two more cities and five more games to go before returning home.
Ross Stripling gave the Giants his best performance of the season, but one poor inning set the Giants back and eventually earned him a loss.
Stripling retired the first six hitters he faced all on groundouts. When Stripling wasn’t inducing grounders, though, he was getting barreled up.
In the bottom of the third, Reds hitters registered exit velocities of 108.4, 90.8, 103.2, 110.3, 91.1 and 98.6 mph. Rocket after rocket.
During that stretch, nine-hitter Will Benson tagged Stripling for a three-run, opposite field home run. It was the 13th homer Stripling has allowed this season in 14 games.
Stripling, despite the loud contact, settled in. He snagged a blasted comebacker for a putout and benefitted from a warning track out to deep center field. He pitched to contact, using a strong defense behind him to his advantage.
Through six innings — the longest start of Stripling’s season — the righty needed only 76 pitches. All four of Cincinnati’s hits came in the third inning, meaning Stripling dealt five perfect frames otherwise.
That’s the type of pitcher the Giants need Stripling to become: a bonafide starter who can turn a lineup over three times. Stripling had a 3.01 ERA last year in the beastly American League East, so the potential is there.
Stripling’s first quality start of 2023 shaved his season ERA down to 5.92. Fifty-two of his 76 pitches dialed in as strikes, and he recorded 10 groundouts to one flyout while striking out two. The Reds didn’t put a runner on base outside of the third inning.
Blake Sabol chased Reds starter Graham Ashcraft out of the game with a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning. An opposite-field shot, Sabol’s 11th of the season brought SF within one run.
Had the Giants not botched a bases-loaded, no-out situation two innings earlier, Sabol’s homer would’ve been a bigger game-changer.
Instead, Reds reliever Lucas Sims stranded two in the eighth and All-Star Alexis Diaz fanned two in a perfect ninth. The Giants have made a habit of erasing leads with clutch hitting. Their 111 runs in the eighth inning or later ranks second in MLB. They have 26 comeback wins.
Habits, and streaks, can die hard.