2025 World Series report — Game 3

Reds explode in the first, lose their lead in the third, and eventually prevail in an all-time insane game 3 to close the gap to 2-1 

Video Recap

The World Series finally broke into a full sprint in Game 3, and the Reds turned their home park into a madhouse, outlasting the Giants 14–10 in a delirious, hit-soaked slugfest by the river. After two taut games by the Bay, this one was all color and chaos—28 combined runs, 27 hits, and a scoreboard that never seemed to catch its breath. 

The Reds didn’t just open Game 3; they tore the lid off it in the bottom of the first, turning Bryce Miller’s night into a survival drill before some fans had even found their seats. Jake McCarthy set the tone immediately, reaching base and forcing the Giants’ outfield into motion, and when Juan Soto followed by getting on as well, the ballpark took on that charged, low hum that says something big is coming. Shohei Ohtani ground Miller through a long at-bat, and even when he made an out it felt like a win for the dugout, because hit after hit after hit followed: Bobby Witt Jr.; Luis Rengifo; Josh Naylor; Max Kepler; Tyler Stephenson; Nico Hoerner: consecutive singles all. Then after McCarthy whiffed for out number two, Soto delivered his second hit of the inning, a double plating two more. 

The Reds’ first inning was a full-blown onslaught—walks mixed with line drives, the Giants infield playing uphill, the crowd roaring at every crack of the bat. It finally ended with eight Reds crossing the plate on eight hits, a first-inning avalanche that seemed to rattle the very lights above the river. When Miller finally escaped, it felt less like recording three outs than staggering out of a storm, with Cincinnati’s dugout howling and the Giants suddenly playing from miles behind. 

But the Giants didn’t fold. Francisco Lindor answered early with a solo shot, and San Francisco's batsmen—Lindor, Kyle Tucker, Kerry Carpenter, Daulton Varsho—kept prying at Ronel Blanco, drawing walks and lining balls to the outfield as if determined to drag the game back to respectability by force. Mike Trout and Julio Rodríguez joined the party, Rodríguez reaching repeatedly as Devers and Sal Pérez chipped in with singles and productive outs, carving into the lead one grinding at-bat at a time. By the time they were done batting in the second, the Giants had closed the gap to a manageable 8-6 deficit. Then, in the top of the third, Kyle Tucker went deep, his three-run shot giving the Giants an improbable 9-8 lead. 

The Giants’ surge, however, provoked a fresh Reds rebuttal. Soto reached base like a metronome, Ohtani and Witt drove balls to the alleys, and Henderson, Rengifo, and Luis Guillorme turned the middle of the order into a conveyor belt. By the time Miller’s night ended, the Giants right-hander had a brutal line: 13 runs on 14 hits over 6⅓ innings, punished for every missed spot, and the Reds had recaptured the lead 13-10. On the other side, Blanco’s 6⅓ innings told the tale of a pitcher simultaneously overwhelmed and stubborn—10 runs allowed, but only five earned, as seven walks and defensive miscues forced him to hard labor. 

The bullpens changed the game’s texture: Griffin Jax came on for the Giants and the Reds turned to Jeremiah Estrada. Jax stabilized things for San Francisco, allowing only a run (a Pete Alonso big fly) on two hits in 1⅔ innings and giving his lineup room to keep swinging.  

Estrada took the chaos personally. Asked to protect a game that felt like it might never end, he fired 2⅔ scoreless innings with three strikeouts and just two hits allowed, attacking the zone and daring the Giants to beat him with swings instead of free bases. San Francisco still found ways to make it interesting—Lindor on base again, Trout and Rodríguez pushing deep counts, Arenado and Adley Rutschman extending innings with late knocks—but each potential game-tilter was met with a firm Estrada fast ball, a play behind him, or a harmless fly ball to the big outfield. 

By the late innings, every out felt like a plot twist. The Giants pushed their total to 10 runs on 11 hits, drawing walk after walk, benefitting from an error at first, and twice bringing the tying run within a couple of batters. But Cincinnati’s 14 runs on 16 hits and seven walks were too much weight for even this resilient Giants lineup to lift, and when Estrada finally coaxed the last fly ball into an outfielder’s glove, the riverfront erupted in the roar of a series reborn.