Reds spoil the San Francisco debut of 3-time Cy Young Award winner Verlander, beat Giants 3-2

CINCINNATI (AP) — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a go-ahead solo homer, Matt McLain had two extra-base hits and an RBI and the Cincinnati Reds spoiled the San Francisco debut of three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander on Saturday, beating the Giants 3-2.

McLain, who missed the entire 2024 season with a shoulder injury, got the Reds on the board with a solo homer in the third inning and scored from second base on an RBI single by Elly De La Cruz in the fifth, tying the game at 2.

Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits in six innings. He finished with one strikeout and settled in, forcing a number of groundouts.

Two days after losing the season opener due to shaky relief pitching, Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft and Emilio Pagán worked three scoreless innings to seal the win.

The 42-year-old Verlander, who signed a $15 million, one-year contract with the Giants in January, struck out five, walked one, allowed two runs and six hits in five innings. Aside from McLain’s solo homer, Verlander kept the Reds in check until the fifth inning, when McLain and De La Cruz had back-to-back hits and tied the score.

San Francisco's Spencer Bivens (0-1) took the loss.

Like McLain, Encarnacion-Strand’s 2024 season was defined by injuries. Encarnacion-Strand missed nearly all of last season with a wrist injury, but the first base slugger has four hits in eight at-bats in 2025.

A diving play by McLain forced a ground out for the first out in the sixth, and a slick double play by McLain and De La Cruz got Lodolo out of the inning.

In 90 MLB games, McLain has 17 homers.

The Reds will start Nick Martinez, who posted a 3.10 ERA last season, against 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray in Sunday's series finale.

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San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald, right, is out at second base as Cincinnati Reds shortstop Matt McLain, left, watches his throw to first base for the double play in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, March, 29, 2025, in Cincinnati. San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos grounds into the double play. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee hits a single in the third inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Saturday, March, 29, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Saturday, March, 29, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Saturday, March, 29, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz hits an RBI single in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Saturday, March, 29, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) — In the final weeks of her life, a man Kristil Krug believed to be her ex-boyfriend sent her threatening and lewd texts and emails that made her think she was being watched. He knew the registration stickers on her license plates were expired and that she had been to the dentist one day, according to investigators.

But shortly before Kristil Krug was found beaten and stabbed in the heart in her suburban Denver home, her marriage was “all but over," and she thought it was possible that her husband, Daniel Krug, might actually behind the messages, a prosecutor said Friday during opening statements in his trial.

"She was putting the pieces together, and he was running out of time,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Kate Armstrong told jurors about why prosecutors believe Daniel Krug waited for his wife in their garage and attacked her after she returned from dropping off two of their three children at school on Dec. 14, 2023. She said he then used his wife's phone to send texts, including one in which she claimed to have been having an affair, before driving to his job at the state health department, Armstrong said.

But defense lawyer Joe Morales said there was no physical evidence linking Daniel Krug, 44, to the violent killing, noting that there was no blood found in his car or his clothes, which his daughter said were the same he was wearing when he drove her to the bus stop that morning. None of Daniel Krug's DNA was found at the scene, though partial DNA from an unknown person was found on her neck, he said.

Morales alleged that sloppy police work had failed to keep Kristil Krug, a biochemical engineer, safe and then bungled the investigation into her death. The detective who investigated the stalking that Kristil Krug had first reported in October 2023 was lazy and incompetent, he said. He also said that police failed to test Kristil Krug's phone for fingerprints even though they allege that Daniel Krug sent texts from it after killing her.

Morales urged jurors to find Daniel Krug not guilty of first-degree murder, stalking and criminal impersonation and serve as a “barrier” against an unjust conviction.

“You’re the last link in this awful train for this family,” he said.

According to investigators, the email account that was used to send messages to Kristil Krug was created on the computer network at Daniel Krug's workplace. A burner phone that was used to send some of the texts, purchased with a gift card registered to Daniel Krug, was often found to have been in the same general location as his phone, Armstrong said.

Three of the home's surveillance camera. which Kristil Krug’s mother said she installed because of the recent stalking, were not recording when she was found, according to Daniel Krug's arrest affidavit. The one in the garage was covered with tape. Morales said the tape also had DNA from an unknown source.

Prosecutors say Daniel Krug told police that he thought the ex-boyfriend was to blame for her killing. But after police confirmed that man was at home in Utah, an eight-hour drive away, when his wife was killed, he said maybe Kristil Krug was having affairs, Armstrong said.

“It’s always the husband," Armstrong quoted Daniel Krug as telling detectives as she said he rolled his eyes.

The ex-boyfriend is set to testify during the trial, which is expected to last two more weeks.

An image of the home in which Kristi Krug was found stabbed and beaten to death taken April 1, 2025, in Broomfield, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

An image of the home, right, in which Kristi Krug was found stabbed and beaten to death taken April 1, 2025, in Broomfield, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FILE - In this undated image provided by the Broomfield Police Department, Colo., shows Daniel Krug. (Broomfield Police via AP, File)

An image of the home in which Kristi Krug was found stabbed and beaten to death is seen April 1, 2025, in Broomfield, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)