Jurickson Profar connected for a three-run homer and MacKenzie Gore struck out 10 in his third career start as the visiting San Diego Padres continued their mastery of the Cincinnati Reds with an 8-5 win on Wednesday.
Eric Hosmer extended his blistering start with two hits, including a tape-measure homer to right, and two walks. Hosmer is leading the National League in batting at .410.
The Padres have won all five meetings between the clubs this season entering the series finale on Thursday.
With the tying run at the plate in the ninth, San Diego’s Taylor Rogers came on to retire Jake Fraley on a flyout on one pitch for his sixth save.
Tommy Pham and Brandon Drury homered and Kyle Farmer matched a major league record with four doubles for the Reds, who lost for the 13th time in 14 games.
Profar, who has a team-leading four outfield assists, did his biggest damage with his bat on Wednesday. In the third, after the Padres extended their lead to 2-0 on a Jake Cronenworth RBI single, Profar barely reached the first row of seats in right against Reds starter Vladimir Gutierrez to put the Padres up 5-0.
Gore (2-0), making his second straight start against the Reds, fanned 10 batters and walked two over five innings, allowing one run on five hits. In the two outings vs. Cincinnati, he has struck out 17 while yielding one run in 10 innings.
Gutierrez (0-4) continued another troubling trend for Cincinnati starters. The right-hander walked a career-high six and struck out only two over four-plus innings, allowing six runs on five hits. Reds starters are now 3-13 in 18 games with a major-league-worst 8.03 ERA.
Down 6-1, the Reds had a chance to get back in the game when they loaded the bases with no outs against reliever Craig Stammen in the sixth. But Cincinnati could manage only a sacrifice fly from Colin Moran between strikeouts by Tyler Naquin and Jonathan India.
Padres reliever Steven Wilson had retired 21 batters in a row before Pham homered with one out in the seventh to bring Cincinnati within 6-3. But Hosmer’s 410-foot blast to right off Alexis Diaz in the eighth put the Padres back ahead by four.
–Field Level Media