SAN FRANCISCO — The components of a pitcher’s duel were in place. The starters were Logan Webb and Hunter Greene, a pair of All-Stars. The venue was Oracle Park, a pitcher’s paradise. The weather was crisp, cold. The question was who would blink first.
Webb was outstanding; Green was just a bit better.
Webb threw seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks, but Greene threw 8 2/3 shutout innings and snapped the Giants’ seven-game winning streak as San Francisco lost to Cincinnati, 2-0, in a battle of aces.
The damn didn’t break until the eighth inning when the Reds (4-7) scored the game’s first two runs. A day removed from blowing a save, Camilo Doval endured another brutal outing by gifting the Reds two free baserunners (walk, hit-by-pitch), then allowing the runners to advance on a sacrifice bunt. Erik Miller was called upon to put out the fire, but after walking the first batter he faced, Miller allowed a two-run double to Blake Dunn that gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead.
For Greene, those two runs appeared to be plenty. Until the ninth.
Greene retired the first two batters he faced and flirted with a Maddux, but the Giants chased Greene from the game as Jung Hoo Lee singled and Matt Chapman drew a walk. The Reds called on Tony Santillan to shut the door, but unlike Opening Day, there wouldn’t be another dramatic three-run, game-altering homer. Heliot Ramos sent a rocket to left field, but the Reds’ Jacob Hurtubise tracked it down and awkwardly dove to corral the ball and end the game.
The Giants’ (8-2) best swing of the night off Greene was from Jung Hoo Lee, who turned on a 100 mph fastball and sent it to right-center field. Unfortunately for Lee, he was playing in a night game at Oracle Park. Lee’s drive, which would’ve been a home run in 19 of 30 ballparks, died at the warning track, and the game remained scoreless through six innings.
Lee helped out Webb’s cause with a pair of slick, sliding catches in the first and fifth innings. Lee’s efforts delighted the “Hoo Lee Gangs”, a group of fans in the upper level wearing caps that looked like fire.
