The best part of the Cincinnati Reds Sunday afternoon in San Francisco came prior to the game’s first pitch, when TJ Friedl stood healthy in the 1B side of the batter’s box. Precisely one pitch later, however, he was writhing in pain on the ground, Kyle Harrison’s first offering of the game having run in on the Cincinnati leadoff man and hit him squarely on the left thumb.
Friedl eventually took 1B and later scored on the bases-clearing double off the top of the CF wall by Jeimer Candelario, and the Reds held one of those elusive ‘early leads’ most every other team in baseball often enjoys.