Giants nearly fall victim to a Cincinnati Red(s) Wedding, steal game 6-5

Sigh.

Once upon a time, the San Francisco Giants used to be able to get out of first innings with the Cincinnati Reds without cordially inviting Giants fans to attend their own personal Red Wedding hell (RIP Catelyn Stark…which reminds me: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY). Within the first minute of the game, you could straight up hear the echo of the opening cords of the Rains of Castamere as Nick Senzel managed to reach first thanks to *checks notes* freaking catcher’s interference?

Oh. Okay then.

That slight brush of Erik Kratz’s glove on Senzel’s bat created a domino effect of errors that managed to put two unearned runs on the board and a slight scowl on Madison Bumgarner’s face. Eugenio Suarez got a base hit and even though Mac Williamson was able to hold Senzel at third and Bumgarner was able to strike out Yasiel Puig, the damage was done off of the bat of Jose Iglesias when he hit a line drive to Kevin Pillar, who suddenly decided to play a quick unwanted game of soccer with the ball, which brought in two runs. It should be noted that the Giants have been outscored 42-3 in the first inning in this 2019 season.

While this particular first inning managed to be rescued by Pablo Sandoval who tied up the game 2-2 with an opposite end of the field homer, it still was rather painful to watch.

The Reds took the lead back quickly in the top of the second after Jose Peraza scored off a Senzel double with two outs.

Both Bum and Tyler Mahle managed to cruise through the third, fourth, and fifth innings without letting any runners score off their pitches, though Bumgarner appeared to be struggling with keeping his calm demeanor in check as he huffed at the home plate ump’s magical disappearing, reappearing strike zone.

It was in the sixth that evil decided to rear its ugly head in the form of Puig, Bumgarner’s arch nemesis, who hit a solo homer off of the already flustered starting pitcher, giving the Reds the 4-2 lead.

Up until the seventh inning, it appeared as though Cincinnati was playing checkers while the Giants were playing drunk hopscotch, which appeared to be the theme of this series against the Reds. It took Brandon Belt coming in to pinch-hit to put that theory to bed. Mahle had walked Brandon Crawford and after a flyout, Belt smashed a homer off the starting pitcher’s curveball and both Brandons scored, tying the game and ending Mahle’s day.

A slight scare was issued when the Reds loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, which seemed to last as long as the latest Avengers movie, but their only run came in the form of a Tucker Barnhart go-ahead walk against reliever Tony Watson, giving the Reds a one-run lead.

The final dagger fell in the bottom of the eighth when Mac Williamson grounded out, scoring Evan Longoria in the process to tie the game. Kevin Pillar singled to center and managed to rush in Pablo who was almost narrowly swiped by Barnhart’s glove, but thankfully managed to score, giving the edge back to the Giants 6-5.

The ending didn’t end up as bloody as we originally expected in the first inning and the Giants managed to avoid the sweep. But the real stab came down after the game when Bumgarner was asked about that Puig home run:

Talk about having the last word.