Brandon Williamson did his part, keeping the Padres in check for five innings. But San Diego took full advantage of the Cincinnati Reds bullpen on Saturday afternoon and crushed them as they blew out the home team 12-5 behind two home runs from Manny Machado.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres (38-45) |
12 | 10 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (44-39) |
5 | 8 | 2 |
| W: Wacha (8-2) L: Williamson (1-2) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
After a 1-2-3 top of the 1st inning, Matt McLain picked up a 1-out double in the bottom half for Cincinnati, but the team couldn’t come through with a hit to bring him in. Brandon Williamson worked around a single in the 2nd inning. The offense got another double, this time to lead off the inning, but Jake Fraley was caught stealing third base to end the inning and once again the team failed to produce a run with a runner in scoring position.
The Padres took advantage of a leadoff walk in the top of the 3rd inning. Trent Grisham drew the walk, stole second base and then scored on a double by Fernando Tatis Jr. with two outs, giving San Diego a 1-0 lead. The bottom half of the inning played out nearly identical as Tyler Stephenson led off with a walk and then scored on a 2-out double by Matt McLain.
Brandon Williamson would toss a shutout 4th and 5th inning for the Reds, keeping the game tied up at 1-1. He took the mound for the top of the 6th, but game up a leadoff single to Austin Nola and that would be the end of his day as Buck Farmer entered the game to face the top of the Padres lineup. Ha-Seong Kim reached on an error when Elly De La Cruz had a chopper get him on the short hop, clanking off of his glove. Then Juan Soto and Manny Machado hit back-to-back home runs and it was 5-1 just like that.
Alec Mills took over in the 7th inning for Buck Farmer and it was not a good Reds debut for the veteran right-handed pitcher. He hit Jake Cronenworth to start the inning, then fired a wild pitch to move him up to second base. Trent Grisham followed with an RBI triple to make it 6-1, and then he scored on a ground out. An error by Spencer Steer allowed Ha-Seong Kim to reach for the second time in the game thanks to a defensive miscue. He would score on a single by Fernando Tatis Jr. to make it 8-1. Manny Machado capped off the inning with a 2-run homer that made it 10-1.
The Reds aren’t going to just roll over for anyone. In the bottom of the 7th inning Tyler Stephenson got the rally started with a walk. Will Benson followed up with a single. Later in the inning Matt McLain walked to load the bases with two outs. That brought Jonathan India to the plate and he took a 99 MPH fastball and sent it 430 feet to dead center off of the batters eye for a grand slam to make it 10-5.
Eduardo Salazar came out of the bullpen to begin the 8th inning and hit the first two batters he saw. Ha-Seong Kim then singled to load the bases. Fernando Tatis Jr. then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 11-5. Juan Soto followed with one of his own as San Diego padded their lead once again.
Brent Honeywell was tasked to keep the Reds from scoring a touchdown in the bottom of the 9th inning. Will Benson led off with a single, but a fly out and a ground ball double play quickly followed and the game was over. San Diego evened up the series, setting up the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
Key Moment of the Game
Juan Soto and Manny Machado going back-to-back in the 6th inning to turn a tie game into a 4-run lead for the Padres.
Notes Worth Noting
All Matt McLain does is hit. With two more doubles on Saturday he’s now hitting .317/.372/.556 with 25 extra-base hits in 42 games since being called up.
Will Benson had three hits on the day. Since being called up from Triple-A on May 26th he’s hit .389/.488/.625 with 14 walks and 14 strikeouts to go along with six stolen bases.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
San Diego Padres vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday July 2nd, 1:40pm ET
TBA vs Andrew Abbott (4-0, 1.21 ERA)
