Shoutout to Reds' pitching with another shutout

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Reds’ starting rotation is on quite a heater to start 2025.

After left-hander Nick Lodolo tallied six scoreless frames in Cincinnati’s 1-0 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night at Oracle Park, the club owns the Majors’ lowest rotation WHIP (0.87) and ERA (2.52).

Lodolo’s personal ERA shrunk to a miniscule 0.96. He has allowed just two earned runs through 18 2/3 innings across three starts.

“That’s a good place to be,” Lodolo said of the Reds’ rotation’s early success. “We feel good, and we’re confident that whoever takes the ball out of the five of us is going to turn in a good start and put us in a good spot to win.”

Tuesday’s win was similar in tone to Monday night’s opener, in which Hunter Greene dominated the Giants to the tune of 8 2/3 scoreless innings in a 2-0 shutout.

Should the Reds blank the Giants again in Wednesday’s finale they would tie their franchise record of three straight shutouts, which has been done three times -- in 1908, 1962 and 1963.

“We’ve played, I think, four already, which is astronomical for this time of year,” said manager Terry Francona of the club’s quartet of 1-0 games already. (They’re 1-3.)

Francona’s right to say that. Per Elias, the Reds are the first team to play four 1-0 games in an eight-game span since July 1-8, 1992, when the Cardinals posted a 3-1 record in such games.

“We didn’t smack the ball all over the field,” said Francona of Tuesday’s tight victory. “We had some hits, had a couple opportunities. We didn’t cash in, but we still played good baseball. We pitched really, really, really well.”

Offense was at a premium again for the banged-up Reds against Giants right-hander Landen Roupp, with the team’s only run being pushed across in the third inning. Spencer Steer doubled, Jake Fraley singled and Jose Trevino brought in Steer with a groundout.

Lodolo held San Francisco’s bats in check for much of his evening, though it took a lunging, ranging catch by Fraley in Triples Alley in right-center field to corral a liner off the bat of Heliot Ramos and strand the tying run at third to end the fifth.

“This is probably one of the hardest places to play outfield because of the way the wind swirls here,” said Fraley. “The ball just does weird stuff everywhere, you just never know. Fortunately, it stayed straight on me.”

Said Lodolo: “That play by Fraley was … shoot, I mean, that won us the game. The bullpen, too, Graham [Ashcraft], two great innings. Emilio [Pagán], too.”

Ashcraft pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, before Pagán navigated the heart of the Giants’ order to preserve the win.

“How about that,” said Francona of Ashcraft. “[Two innings] is a big ask. I know he’s stretched out, but it’s the seventh and eighth inning, not the third and fourth. And he threw a ton of strikes. He kept his composure. I feel like it's given us another weapon, which we think is going to be really valuable.”

Behind the plate, Trevino has enjoyed a firsthand look at the Reds’ starters as they’ve powered through these first dozen games.

“They want the ball, man,” said the catcher. “They want the ball in big moments. They're not afraid of anybody. They trust their stuff, and they trust me. They trust everything that's going on.”

For the veteran Pagán, it all comes down to how confident the pitchers feel.

“Extremely,” he said of the confidence level. “And we have reason to be. We’ve got a lot of really talented arms. You pair that with a coaching staff that believes in us and is prepared, and we have really good scouting report meetings. And then our catchers, really, all of them that we’ve got, we are very fortunate in this organization.”

With the victory, the Reds secured their first series win of 2025 against a Giants club that came into the set with the Majors’ best record at 8-1.

And while the Reds haven’t hit as well as they’ve pitched -- their .210 team average is 23rd in the Majors and their 42 runs are tied for 19th -- Trevino feels it’s just a matter of time.

“We’re pretty much one big hit away,” said Trevino. “It’s coming. The pitchers are picking us up right now, the hitters are going to have to pick the pitchers up. We understand that this is the nature of the beast.

“At some point, we’re going to be good together.”