The Giants were in the market for an early season inflection point. A turnaround moment. A This Is Where It All Changed kind of game. Something for the producers of the 2026 World Series film to sink their teeth into.

The Giants can only hope that’s what they got on Thursday afternoon. It had the right ingredients.

You had Landen Roupp continuing a coming out party that started last summer. He held the Reds hitless through five innings. Toss out* his final two starts of last year, and he’s got a 2.98 ERA dating back to the beginning of 2025.

You had a two-out rally that you had to see to believe. After three weeks of an offense that looked like Skyline Chili, the Giants magically, miraculously, impossibly strung together three straight run-scoring hits in the seventh. If only for a half inning, they looked like a winning ballclub.

You had a team ready to be the aggressor. Roupp drilled Spencer Steer a night after the Reds infielder barked at JT Brubaker. Then Erik Miller struck out Sal Stuart, who hit three times as many home runs as the Giants did this series, and told him to sit the f— down. Benches cleared. Players yelled, pointed, and shoved. And the Giants won.

If it wasn’t The Game That Changed Everything, it was at least the game that made me think it could.

Up next: The Giants head to Washington, where it doesn’t feel like they’ve played well since Brandon Belt’s 18th inning home run. It’ll be Logan Webb against old friend Zack Littell, first pitch at 3:45 pm.

*I don’t like when people use the “throwaway” strategy to invent stats. Felt kinda nice, though. Have to admit.

A Diet Coke and Mentos kind of day