Cincinnati @ San Diego preview
PETCO Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 30, 2014 ) Cincinnati 0, San Diego 1
Despite setting a dubious mark for offensive futility, the San Diego Padres ended June on a high note. One night after winning for the second time this season in a game where they managed one hit, the Padres eye their fourth victory in five meetings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday as they continue their three-game set in San Diego. The Padres, who also had one hit in a win June 4, finished the month with a .171 team batting average – the worst mark in a calendar month in baseball history.
San Diego scored a total of 60 runs while going 10-17 in June – eclipsing the three-run mark only six times – although Everth Cabrera’s sacrifice fly proved to be enough in Monday’s series-opening 1-0 win over the Reds. Cincinnati saw its season-high five-game winning streak come to a halt as it suffered its sixth defeat in its last eight games against the Padres. The Reds, who have scored no more than two runs in any of those six losses, tallied the third-most runs in the majors last month (135) and averaged 5.3 runs over its previous nine games prior to Monday’s result.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cincinnati), FSN San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Mike Leake (6-6, 3.41 ERA) vs. Padres RH Ian Kennedy (5-9, 4.01)
Leake recorded one of the finest outings of his career en route to his third straight win in Thursday’s 3-1 victory over San Francisco. The No. 8 overall pick of the 2009 draft, whose previous career high for strikeouts was eight, fanned 12 while allowing a run on four hits and a walk in eight frames. Leake settled for a no-decision despite yielding a run on two hits over eight innings in a 2-1 loss versus the Padres on May 13 and is 0-1 with a 2.66 ERA in four career turns against them.
Finding himself on the wrong side of Tim Lincecum’s no-hitter Wednesday, Kennedy finished June with a 1-3 record and 5.46 ERA across five outings after surrendering four runs and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-0 setback at San Francisco. The 29-year-old lost his third consecutive decision after he won each of three previous starts from May 25-June 4. Kennedy, who sports an impressive 111-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2014, is 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA in five all-time outings against Cincinnati.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cabrera, who is 7-for-44 over his last 14 games, batted .133 in June.
2. Cincinnati’s starting pitchers have posted a 1.17 ERA and allowed a total of 20 hits over the last six contests.
3. San Diego’s 60 runs and .171 batting average in June were 24 runs fewer and 56 points lower than the next-worst teams (Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, respectively) in the majors.
PREDICTION: Reds 4, Padres 1