The Sports Xchange
Jun 14, 2017
SAN DIEGO -- Rookie center fielder Franchy Cordero drove home Matt Szczur with a single in the seventh inning to break a tie and lead the San Diego Padres to a 4-2 win Wednesday afternoon and a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds at Petco Park.
The Padres scored a second run in the seventh on an infield out on a ball that deflected off the glove of Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen (3-2).
Starter Jhoulys Chacin (6-5) was credited with the win. Brandon Maurer picked up his 12th save.
Pinch-hitter Szczur and Jose Pirela opened the seventh with back-to-back walks off the right-handed Lorenzen. Cordero then pulled a single to right to score Szczur. With one-out, Lorenzen intentionally walked Yangervis Solarte to load the bases.
Hunter Renfroe, who tied the game an inning earlier with a two-run homer, hit a high chop back to the mound that ticked off Lorenzen's glove to ruin a chance for an inning-ending double play.
Reds' starter Amir Garrett entered the sixth working a five-hit shutout.
But Solarte opened the sixth with a single to left, and Renfroe, who had been hitless in his previous 18 at-bats with six strikeouts, lined a 429-foot drive to left that banged off the railing at the top of the second deck.
The home run was Renfroe's 14th of the season, tying him with Nate Colbert (1969) for the most homers in the first half of a season by a Padres rookie.
The Reds had built a 2-0 lead on solo homers by Jose Peraza and Joey Votto.
Part of the Padres' success in the first two games of the series was keeping swift Reds lead-off hitter Billy Hamilton off base in eight of his 10 plate appearances.
With Hamilton taking Wednesday off to rest a sore thumb, sub shortstop Peraza moved into the lead-off slot and homered on the third pitch offered by Chacin. Peraza's homer travelled 388 feet into the left field stands and was the first game-opening homer of Peraza's career and the Reds' first of the season.
Votto made it 2-0 with his 19th homer of the season leading off the fourth. His 407-foot drive to right-center barely cleared Renfroe's leap at the fence.
Earlier, the Padres had a tying run cut down at the plate. Erick Aybar singled in the second and tried to score from first on a double to left center by catcher Luis Torrens. But Aybar was thrown out at the plate on a perfect relay from center fielder Arismendy Alcantara to shortstop Peraza to catcher Tucker Barnhart.
Chacin allowed two runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts to improve to 4-1 at Petco Park this season. Garrett allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over six innings.
NOTES: The Padres are 19-9 against the Reds at Petco Park since 2012 . . . Both teams are off Thursday . . . The Reds rested CF Billy Hamilton Tuesday due to a sore thumb and left SS Zack Cosart out of the starting lineup for the second day with a sore quad muscle . . . Padres' starting RHP Trevor Cahill, who has been on the disabled list since May 14 with right shoulder inflammation, felt good after a bullpen session Tuesday and will travel with the Padres to Milwaukee and Chicago. Cahill is expected to face hitters in Milwaukee and begin a rehab assignment before the Padres return home June 23 . . . Padres RHP Jered Weaver, who has been on the disabled list since May 20 with a left hip injury, will also join the Padres on the trip and throw bullpens.