If hitting truly is contagious then the Padres needed to wear Hazmat suits on Friday night in Cincinnati.
San Diego scored a run in every inning but the 9th en route to a 13-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Friars line score looks kind of like a social security number:
111-11-1250
They got a single run in each of the 1st through 6th innings, two more in the 7th and hung a five spot in the 8th. The Padres had 15 hits, including four home runs.
The first long ball was also the first run of the night. Wil Myers continued his torrid June with a solo home run in the 1st inning. For the month Myers has hit 10 homers, driven in 28 runs, scored 22 runs, and rolled up 1.176 OPS. That’s Babe Ruth territory.
Myers had three hits and drove in five runs, making him possibly the only man in a San Diego uniform that had a better night than Melvin Upton Jr. The Padres left fielder also had three hits, two of them home runs, and drove in four. Upton’s first long ball came in the 7th inning, a 2-run blast to right field to put the Padres up 8-4. His second dinger, another 2-run shot in the 8th, capped the high-scoring night.
Adam Rosales also went deep for the Padres, who unleashed a 15 hit attack against five Reds pitchers. San Diego starting pitcher Colin Read had really only one bad inning. Rea gave up four runs, all of them coming in the 3rd inning, when Cincinnati took their only lead of the night at 4-3. Rea ended up going 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts to get the win.
The Friars have won five of their last six games, including the first two of their 4-game set in southern Ohio. They can win the series on Saturday if Drew Pomeranz can beat Brandon Finnegan.
