By Hal McCoy
There was a major accomplishment by the Cincinnati Reds, also known as Team Slump.
They scored a run.
Sal Stewart whacked a first-pitch home run in the ninth inning Tuesday night in Oracle Park.
It ended a frustrating streak of 23 straight scoreless innings by the Reds.
And it was all they got, a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, their second straight defeat in the City by the Bay.
It gave the Giants the series, their first after losing seven straight series. And their back-to-back wins are their first since mid-July.
While the Reds are playing as if one step from baseball’s mortuary, the mostly minor call-ups for the Giants are playing as if it’s Game 7 of the World Series.
They made spectacular defensive play after spectacular play to keep the Reds off the scoreboard.
After getting only five singles in a 5-0 loss Monday night, the Reds produced only four Wednesday.
And for the second straight night, San Francisco’s starting pitcher left early with an elbow injury.
On Monday, Carson Whisenhut departed after 2 2/3 innings and five relief pitchers blanked the Reds on three hits over the final 6 1/3 innings.
On Tuesday, Adrian Houser grabbed his elbow after pitching only 1 2/3 innings. Four Giants relief pitchers silenced the Reds on one run and three hits over 7 1/3 innings.
The tone was set for both teams in the first inning.
Elly De La Cruz led the game with a double, but Stewart grounded to shortstop, sending De La Cruz to third. But JJ Bleday lined to shortstop and Tyler Stephenson struck out on a full count.
Then came the bottom of the first and Reds starter Brady Singer looked as if he had never thrown a pitch over the plate in his life.
His first pitch was behind Drew Gilbert. His second pitch hit him. Then he walked Rafael Devers and hit Jung Ho Lee with a pitch to fill the bases.
With one out, Drew Cavanaugh lined a two-run single up the middle and the Giants were up, 2-0.
That’s where it stayed until the fifth inning when San Francisco’s Devers led the inning with a 400-foot home run that landed in the top row of the right field seats and bounced into McCovey Cove, his second home run of the series.
So it was 3-0 entering the ninth and the Reds at 23 straight scoreless innings. Carson Seymour was on the mound seeking his first major league save.
Stewart reversed Seymour’s first pitch 355 feet into the right field seats, his 28th home run, 12 to the opposite field. It extended his hitting streak to 10 games and gave him 99 RBI.
The home run didn’t unnerve Seymour. JJ Bleday grounded to second, Tyler Stephenson grounded to third and it ended with Eugenio Suarez striking out. . .looking, of course.
San Francisco’s defensive acumen began in the third and it happened on three successive plays. And all three plays were made by players the Giants called up from the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats before Monday’s game.
De La Cruz lined one into the left center gap and left fielder Turner Hill performed like a world class sprinter to chase it down.
The next Reds hitter was Stewart, leading off the fourth with a long distance drive to left center. This time it was center fielder Drew Gilbert.
After what seemed like a 100-yard dash, he snagged the ball as he crashed into the padded wall. He left a hole where his knee hit and a smudge of eye-black on the wall where his face smashed against the wall.
The next batter, JJ Bleday lined one toward right field, but second baseman Nate Furman enacted a twisting, leaping catch.
There was a scary moment for the Reds, too. With one out in the sixth, San Francisco’s Grant McCray grounded one to Singer near the mound. He slipped and fell and McCray reached on the error.
The trainer and manager Tito Francona gathered around the mound, but the tough-minded Singer talked his way into staying in.
He retired the next batter, but when he gave up a two-out single to Gilbert, putting runners on third and first, Francona pulled him.
Sam Moll came in to grab the final out and prevent any scoring.
After the wild first inning, Singer gave up nothing more than the Devers home run and pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs and six hits.
His record dipped to 5-12 and the Reds have lost nine of 12.
Francona tried to put some sense into what he is seeing from his non-existent offense.
“I think we’re trying to hit everything,” he said. “That kid came in and threw his fastball to both sides of the plate and then we started chasing his change-up,” he said.
He was referring to Anthony Molina, who replaced starter Houser after he left with the elbow injury.
He held the Reds to no runs and one hit over 4 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out one.
“We’re going to have to stay stubborn. . .we gotta know what we want to do and stay stubborn with the plan,” said Francona. “We’re trying to hit everything and we get ourselves in trouble.”
And Singer?
“I actually thought he hurt himself on the second pitch of the game,” said Francona. “But like Singer can do, he limited the damage after the first inning and then he competed like crazy, like he always does.”
It was at first thought Singer injured an oblique on the sixth inning error, but Francona said it is only a bruise and he’ll be checked thoroughly Wednesday.
The Reds complete the series with the Giants Wednesday afternoon and then . . .
Their final 29 games are mindful of a Shaboozey lyric, “The devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes.”
The Reds have two series against the Chicago
Cubs, two series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, two series against the Milwaukee Brewers, a series against the San Diego Padres, a series against the Atlanta Braves and a season-ending series against the Toronto Blue Jays.