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Don’t blame Tony Vitello. His managing style and inexperience in pro ball aren’t why the Giants are 7-12. Not once did he hang a slider, boot a grounder, or swing through a fastball down the middle. He’s barely been out of the dugout, except for the lineup exchange and his first ejection as a major league manager.

With all due respect to some fans’ gloom-and-doom mentality, it’s still way too early to pass judgment on Vitello’s scuffling 2026 Giants. The low batting averages and high ERAs can be skewed because we’re just 12% into the season, and that goes for the win-loss record, too.

But c’mon, man. Do more.

Crush a double into the gap, sneak a blooper to left, hit a soft liner to center, build a 3-0 lead. Pitch six innings of one-hit ball, watch the bullpen throw zeroes the rest of the way. Turn a nifty 4-6-3 double play on one of the league’s quickest players.

And show all kinds of attitude and emotion and fire as if these are the Tennessee Volunteers playing an SEC rival back in Knoxville.

Well, that was exactly what transpired Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati, where the Giants did all those things to pull out a 3-0 victory that featured some bad blood, heated moments, and plenty of barking from both sides.

Take a bow, Tony Vitello. This is TonyBall at its finest.

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If the Giants are to succeed this season after a miserable start, they’ll need to feed off some of that Vitello vitality that he brought from the college ranks and show a higher level of intensity rather than playing flat as they’ve done too often in the early going.

It’s why Buster Posey hired this guy off a college campus, to spark a roster that the president of baseball operations believed underperformed under Bob Melvin. It’s been more of the same in the first three weeks of 2026, and Vitello is the first to admit his guys need more fight to maintain a competitive edge.

We saw a little of it Wednesday, and it was on full display Thursday. A day after Rafael Devers angrily busted his bat after a strikeout, after JT Brubaker barked at the umpire and intentionally hesitated before throwing his next pitch — prompting Reds batter Spencer Steer to yell, “Throw the f-ing ball” — more emotions were stirred in the series finale.

On Steer’s first trip to the plate, Landen Roupp drilled him with a pitch that he rarely throws (four-seam fastball), a clear act to alert Steer and the Reds not to disrespect his teammate. The Reds retaliated in the eighth inning with two outs and the bases empty — Connor Phillips plunked Willy Adames, who dropped his bat, put his hands on his hips, and glared at Phillips.

Players from both sides hurried to the scene, and Phillips was ejected. Eventually, Adames flashed a big smile, helping to momentarily quell the emotions. More fireworks emerged immediately after the final pitch when Erik Miller struck out Sal Stewart and screamed “sit the f— down,” among other doozies, prompting Stewart to holler back.

Giants catcher Patrick Bailey placed his right arm on Stewart to push him back, and Devers and Adames quickly arrived to protect Miller, as if the 6-foot-5, 269-pounder needed protection. Refusing to back down, the big lefty vehemently told other Reds to sit the f— down.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Vitello absolutely loved it. Yes this was baseball players’ way of policing themselves, but it was more than that. The rookie manager, who had his own verbal clash with the plate ump, has been hinting for days that the Giants need more drive and purpose and enthusiasm, and all of that intersected on getaway day in Cincinnati.

Call it a wake-up call. Or a kumbaya moment. Or the makings for a happy flight to Washington, where the Giants will conclude their three-city tour. Whichever it is, Thursday showed this team has some fight so long as everyone’s on board and chipping in.

The Giants still have the majors’ most ineffective offense. They’ve scored the fewest runs, hit the fewest homers, drawn the fewest walks, and stolen the fewest bases. More hitters need to step up for this to work beyond Jung Hoo Lee, who has had a sudden resurgence on the trip, going 10-for-23.

• Devers was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts after an encouraging day Wednesday and needs to upgrade his .216 average, .577 OPS, and 66 OPS+, which ranks him 34% below league average. In Boston, he hit .279 with an .859 OPS and 129 OPS+, 29% better than league average.

• Slumping Heliot Ramos is getting pushed, a good thing. He was out of the lineup the past two days after the Giants called up lefty-swinging outfielders Will Brennan and Drew Gilbert. Ramos is hitting .231 with no homers and a .571 OPS, and his 35% strikeout rate is a far cry from last year’s 22.7%.

• Bailey, of course. The numbers are too anemic to show on a family website. Suffice it to say his OPS is second lowest in the majors among players with at least 50 plate appearances. Vitello has promised more playing time for fellow catcher Daniel Susac, who’s 9-for-16, and fans can’t wait.

• Logan Webb (5.25 ERA), Adrian Houser (5.06), and Tyler Mahle (7.23) have been inconsistent in the rotation and need to pitch more like Roupp (2.38) and Robbie Ray (2.42) for the Giants to keep in games while waiting for the offense to come alive.

So far, the offense hasn’t done its part, Thursday’s decisive three-run rally in the seventh inning notwithstanding, but perhaps a new fiery attitude exhibited in Cincinnati will help ignite the bats and in turn the team. That’ll be the case if Vitello has any say in the matter.