The Cincinnati Reds made quick work of another series win Wednesday afternoon, beating the San Diego Padres 7-3 behind three home runs and a solid return from Brandon Williamson in his first game back since April.
San Diego jumped on the board first, just like it did the night before. Fernando Tatis Jr. opened the game with a single and scored when Ty France launched a 2-run home run off the top of the wall in left field. The Padres added another in the second after Austin Hays led off with a double and Tatis Jr. followed with a 2-out RBI single to make it 3-0.
Cincinnati answered in a hurry. Tyler Stephenson walked to start the bottom of the second, Dane Myers followed with a single, and Juan Brito stepped in and drove the third pitch he saw into the second row of seats in right field for his first big league home run.
That swing tied the game at 3-3. A few minutes later, Hector Rodriguez broke the tie with a 2-out solo shot to finish off a 4-run inning and put the Reds in front for good.
Williamson settled down after the early damage, stringing together scoreless innings in the third, fourth and fifth while the Reds held the lead. The sixth got a little messy after he issued a leadoff walk and then saw a chopper turn into an infield hit.
He struck out Ethan Salas, but Cincinnati turned to Pierce Johnson to clean up the inning. Johnson did exactly that, fanning Dustin Harris and then getting a weak fly ball to center.
The Reds added to the cushion in the bottom of the sixth. JJ Bleday and Dane Myers each singled, and Juan Brito drew an eight-pitch walk to load the bases with one out. Matt McLain followed with a sacrifice fly to right, stretching the lead to 5-3.
Cincinnati kept the pressure on in the seventh. Elly De La Cruz lined a 1-out single up the middle, and five pitches later JJ Bleday crushed a 2-run homer that landed 400-plus feet away and made it 7-3.
From there, the bullpen shut the door. Tejay Antone worked a scoreless seventh, Tony Santillan handled the eighth while working around a walk, and Emilio Pagan came on in the ninth and retired the side in order on 13 pitches to lock up the win.
The biggest swing came in that second inning, when Brito’s game-tying homer and Rodriguez’s follow-up shot flipped the game in Cincinnati’s favor.
Brito didn’t just hit his first major league home run. He also picked up his first stolen base.
Bleday and Myers each finished with three hits, and Bleday fell a triple short of the cycle. De La Cruz went 2-for-4, giving Cincinnati three players with multi-hit games.
Rodriguez had just one hit, but it was a home run, his fifth in his last 10 games. Across Triple-A and MLB, he has 32 home runs this season.
Each team went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
During the game, Mark Sheldon of Reds.com reported that Eugenio Suarez passed his US citizenship exam.
Friday September 4th, 6:10pm ET
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