Ramos, Chapman shine on both sides of ball as SF Giants take first series

CINCINNATI — It was a game that seemingly had a little bit of everything. Dueling perfect game bids that fell apart. Home runs, four in total. An overturned call and a pitch clock violation, each of which had instant ramifications. A behind-the-back catch. And Gold Glove defense by a third baseman with five of them to his name.

In the end, the Giants ended Sunday’s matinee at Great American Ball Park with a 6-3 win over the Reds, taking two of three from Cincinnati to open the season.

Robbie Ray began his season with five perfect innings before allowing three earned runs on two homers in the sixth. Despite his early excellence, Ray ended up with a pedestrian line score: three runs over 5 1/3 innings with four strikeouts to one walk. Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman each homered, drove in two runs apiece and made highlight defensive plays.

Ramos ended Nick Martinez’s bid at a perfect game in the top of the fifth inning, sending a changeup into the left-field bleachers for his second homer of the year and giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.

The following inning, Jung Hoo Lee doubled the lead to 2-0 by driving in Tyler Fitzgerald with a two-out double, then Matt Chapman doubled the lead once more to 4-0 with a two-run homer into the left-field bleachers, his first of the season. With Ray flirting with history, the Giants appeared on their way to their first series victory of the season.

Until they weren’t.

Gavin Lux, the former Los Angeles Dodger, began the bottom of the sixth by breaking up Ray’s perfect game bid with a single. Two batters later, Austin Wynns, the Reds’ nine-hole batter, sent a middle-middle slider into the left-field bleachers following a pitch clock violation, slicing the Giants’ lead in half. Matt McLain followed Wynns with a home run of his own, barely clearing the left-center field fence.

With two swings, San Francisco’s lead went from 4-0 to 4-3.

Pitching coach J.P. Martinez went out to the mound to try to compose Ray, but the left-hander proceeded to walk Santiago Espinal on four pitches. During the latter two pitches, the crowd at Great American Ball Park joined in unison to count down as the pitch clock approached zero, a callback to Ray’s violation before Wynn’s homer.

Manager Bob Melvin pulled Ray following the walk in favor of Erik Miller, who retired Cincinnati’s star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and put out the fire.

The Giants added some much-needed insurance in the top of the eighth.

Fitzgerald reached base on a fielding error by De La Cruz, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by LaMonte Wade Jr. Despite already being in scoring position with the heart of the order coming up, Fitzgerald made the bold decision to steal third base. Fitzgerald was initially ruled out, but the Giants challenged and the call was overturned. Willy Adames drove in Fitzgerald with a sacrifice fly, his first RBI in a Giants uniform, stretching the lead to 5-3. Ramos provided more insurance later in the inning by driving in Lee with a single, giving San Francisco a 6-3 lead.

Tyler Rogers allowed two Reds to reach base in the bottom of the eighth, but got out of the jam when Chapman made a tag-out, throw-out double play to end the inning. Camilo Doval shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first save of the season.