Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Will Venable. Venable went 4-5 with a run and four RBI. His three-run homer in the fifth proved to be the margin of victory.
Key Plays
- The Reds first inning woes continued when Johnny Cueto walked Luis Rodriguez on a questionable fourth ball. Adrian Gonzalez's double moved him to third where he scored on Kevin Kouzmanoff's sac fly.
- The Padres doubled their advantage in the second inning when Kyle Blanks led off with a single. Will Venable hit a ball that Brandon Phillips couldn't come up with, and Blanks took third. He scored on a double play ball hit by Henry Blanco.
- The Reds threatened to make it interesting in the fourth as Joey Votto and Phillips led off with consecutive doubles. Jonny Gomes walked to put runners on first and second with no outs, but trade rumor subject Edwin Encarnacion showed how much he liked playing in Cincinnati by grounding into a double play, and Laynce Nix grounded out.
- Still, a 2-1 game was pretty exciting! And of course it didn't stay that way. Luis Rodriguez singled to lead off the fifth for the Friars, and was replaced on the basepaths one out later by a Kevin Kouzmanoff force out. Cueto might have escaped, but why do that when he could just let the wheels fall off? Chase Headley doubled, scoring the Kouz, and Kyle Blanks was hit by a pitch. Dick Pole whispered some sage advice to Cueto, who then promptly gave up a homer to Will Venable.
- Headley, Blanks, and Venable provided the Pads' final run in the seventh. The first two walked, and Venable singled. 7-1 Padres, and it seemed like a bad game was about to be reapeated.
- Okay, only mostly repeated. In the ninth inning, the Reds attempted a rally. Encarnacion, in perhaps his last at bat as a Red, singled and Laynce Nix walked. Pinch hitter Adam Rosales then stepped in and cranked a three run homer of his own (Suck it, Venable!). And then the Reds still lost by three.
via FanGraphs
Other News
- This was Tim Stauffer's first win in three years.
- The Padres have won three in a row, their longest winning streak this season since they won ten in a row from May 15-25. That streak, of course, started with their sweep of the Reds.
- The Padres finished the season 6-1 against the Reds. They're 35-61 against everyone else.
- Positives... positives... oh! Craig Tatum had two hits, raising his average to .150.