SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants ended their first homestand of the season with back-to-back series wins, but the good vibes were dampened after right-hander Johnny Cueto exited Wednesday afternoon’s 3-0 victory over the Reds with lat tightness in his back.
Cueto was cruising through 5 2/3 scoreless innings and blew a 93.5-mph fastball past Nick Castellanos for his fourth strikeout of the afternoon in the sixth, but he grimaced after throwing the pitch and immediately signaled to catcher Curt Casali that he was done. Head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner quickly came out to check on Cueto, who subsequently walked off the field after throwing only 68 pitches.
Cueto was due to be examined after the game, raising questions about how his injury will affect the Giants’ rotation plans moving forward. The 35-year-old veteran dominated in his first three starts of the year, logging a 1.80 ERA over 20 innings, and appeared on his way to rebounding from a disappointing 2020 campaign, when he recorded a career-high 5.40 ERA over 12 starts.
Cueto allowed only three hits against the Reds — his former club — on Wednesday and departed with a 2-0 lead. Left-hander Caleb Baragar replaced Cueto in the sixth and induced a groundout from Joey Votto to end the inning.
Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle didn’t allow a hit over his first four innings, but the Giants finally broke through in the fifth when Austin Slater drilled a double into the right-center-field gap to score Brandon Crawford from first and give San Francisco a 1-0 lead. Slater then advanced to third on a passed ball and scored from there on a chopper by Casali to bring home an insurance run for the Giants.
