Brady Singer threw six strong innings, Spencer Steer and Sal Stewart hit early home runs off Robbie Ray, and the Cincinnati Reds held on for a 2-1 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night.
Bouncing back from his worst outing of the young season, Singer (1-1) allowed a two-out, fifth-inning home run to Willy Adames, his third of the season, but just five other hits in his six innings. He struck out one, hit a batter, but didn’t walk anyone.
Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagan all worked a scoreless inning in relief of Singer, with Pagan notching his fifth save after a seven-pitch ninth.
The win was just the Reds’ second in their last six games. The Giants dropped their third straight.
Neither team got a runner farther than second base until Steer circled them with his third homer of the year leading off the bottom of the third.
Stewart made it 2-0 an inning later with his fifth homer.
The home runs were the only two hits allowed by Ray (2-2) in five innings, during which he labored through 94 pitches. He walked four and struck out six.
The Reds finished with just three hits. Elly De La Cruz had the third, a one-out single off Caleb Kilian in the sixth.
Kilian and fellow Giants relievers Keaton Winn and Ryan Walker faced just 10 batters in shutting out the Reds over their last three at-bats.
The Giants had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position. Patrick Bailey flied to left field with Jung Hoo Lee on second to end the second inning; Heliot Ramos flied to left after Lee had doubled with two outs in the fourth; and Ramos stranded Casey Schmitt at second with a grounder to short in the sixth.
Luis Arraez had three singles, while Adames and Lee collected two hits apiece for San Francisco, which out-hit the hosts 7-3.
The double by Lee was the game’s only extra-base hit other than the three home runs.
