Manny Machado had four hits, Ty France had three and starter Michael King pitched out of early trouble to post six scoreless innings, leading the San Diego Padres to a 5-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on a very steamy Monday night in Cincinnati.
The win in the opener to the three-game series snapped San Diego’s three-game losing streak.
Jackson Merrill went 2-for-4 with an RBI and robbed Sal Stewart of a home run in center in the third inning.
The Padres broke a scoreless tie in the fourth against Cincinnati starter Brady Singer (5-13) when they opened the inning with six consecutive hits against the right-hander.
Machado began the rally with a single to left. France and Merrill followed with singles for a 1-0 lead.
Xander Bogaerts continued the rally with a two-run double to left, increasing the lead to 3-0. Dustin Harris capped the outburst with a run-scoring single that scored Bogaerts and put San Diego up 4-0.
Singer was tagged for four runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped his fourth straight decision and finished August with an 0-3 mark over six starts, and a 5.29 ERA in the month.
The game was delayed 14 minutes prior to the top of the fifth when home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez left the game with heat exhaustion and dehydration, resulting in elevated blood pressure and blurred vision. Three umpires worked the remainder of the game, with D.J. Reyburn moving from third base to behind the plate. The game-time temperature was 90 degrees, with 61% humidity.
King (9-9) recorded six strikeouts and allowed just four hits, thanks in large part to his ability to work out trouble. The Reds had runners on second and third in the first with one out and couldn’t score. Cincinnati also put runners on first and second in the next two innings and still couldn’t score.
Appropriately, King worked out of a first-and-second jam in his final inning when TJ Friedl flew out to right to end the sixth. For King, it was his fifth consecutive quality start while running his scoreless innings streak to 15 2/3 innings dating back to Aug. 19 against the New York Mets.
