Perdomo, 2 Padres HRs power win over Reds

CINCINNATI -- The Padres are last in the Majors in runs scored this season, but they had no trouble turning the tables on the Reds on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park. San Diego cruised to a 7-3 victory over Cincinnati, as Jose Pirela notched four hits and Yangervis Solarte had three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs.
Following an 11-3 Reds win on Monday, Padres starter Luis Perdomo steadied the Padres' rotation and took a shutout into the seventh inning. The 24-year-old, who entered the game 1-2 with a 6.43 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break, was charged with two earned runs and seven hits over six-plus innings with four walks and seven strikeouts, his most since May 15.
"In this ballpark, the ball flies a bit," said Perdomo, who also induced three ground-ball double plays. "You have to keep it down and can't leave pitches up."
Reds rookie Sal Romano gave up five earned runs on nine hits over six innings with two walks and two strikeouts. Romano labored from the beginning, and a wild pitch against Wil Myers scored Pirela for a 2-0 Padres lead in the first. Austin Hedges led off the sixth inning with his 15th homer of the season, a shot to right field on a 2-0 pitch from Romano.

"A lot closer to 50-50 balls and strikes, number one," Reds manager Bryan Price said of the right-hander's seventh Major League start. "His changeup wasn't really a factor as it was in the previous start. He was really left with the fastball-breaking pitch, and they put the barrel of the bat on the ball with some regularity tonight. It wasn't his best outing, but certainly something to be excited about with the arm and the stuff. He's learning some lessons up here."
Solarte put the game out of the Reds' reach with a two-run homer in the seventh against reliever Drew Storen.
• Solarte breaks out of slump with authority

Perdomo started the seventh with a Jesse Winker single and José Peraza walk before he was lifted for reliever José Torres. Tucker Barnhart greeted Torres by hitting a 2-0 pitch into the left-field seats for a three-run homer. But the lefty reliever settled down from there, and Brad Hand worked around a pair of walks for a scoreless ninth. In doing so, Hand increased his scoreless streak to 24 innings, the highest such streak by a Padres pitcher since Cla Meredith set the franchise record with 33 2/3 in 2006.
"We're so accustomed to no baserunners [with Hand] that when he walks two guys, you wonder what's going on for a second," Padres manager Andy Green said. "But he locked it back in and got the job done."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Turning two three times: Despite the lopsided score, the Reds had Perdomo in jams he had to work out of throughout his start. After three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second, the Padres' right-hander struck out Romano before getting Billy Hamilton to ground into a double play to end the inning. Later, with two on and one out in the fourth, Barnhart bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to keep Cincinnati off of the scoreboard, and Perdomo got a third double play against Scooter Gennett to end the sixth.
"Perdomo got the ground balls," Price said. "In those big situations, he wasn't necessarily hunting the strikeout, but [he got] something on the ground and his infielders took care of him with some double plays."

Hamilton robs Asuaje: Some stellar Reds defense helped keep the game from becoming more lopsided with Romano on the mound. Hamilton took two hits away from Carlos Asuaje in center field, but his catch at the fence to start the third inning was the highlight of the game. The speedy center fielder made a long run to the wall and a leaping basket catch as he crashed into the center-field wall, landing on his back on the warning track. According to Statcast™, Hamilton covered 106 feet of ground to make the play.
"It's one of those plays you don't expect to make every night. I actually thought it was gone at first," Hamilton said. More >

QUOTABLE
"That's probably the hardest [double play] you're ever going to have to get. He took more hits away from us than we did from him today. But that double play was huge." -- Green, on Hamilton grounding into an inning-ending double play in the second
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Pirela's four hits tied a career high, which he set on July 21 in San Francisco this season. In his career, he's 10-for-20 with two homers, three doubles and three walks against the Reds.
REPLAY REVIEW
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hamilton appeared to have successfully stolen second base ahead of Asuaje's tag while Zack Cozart struck out. The Padres challenged the call and it was overturned, ruling Hamilton out in an inning-ending double play -- one of four double plays by the Padres' defense on the night -- thanks to Hedges' impressive throw from behind the plate.
It also marked the first time that Hamilton has grounded into a double play and been caught stealing on the same night.

WHAT'S NEXT
Padres:Travis Wood faces his former team when the four-game series at Great American Ball Park continues on Wednesday at 4:10 p.m. PT. The veteran left-hander has been solid, though not spectacular, in two starts since joining the Padres last month at the non-waiver Trade Deadline, allowing six runs in 11 innings.
Reds: In the third game of the four-game series, set to begin at 7:10 p.m. ET Wednesday, Asher Wojciechowski will make the start for Cincinnati. Wojciechowski re-entered the rotation and provided a solid five innings with one earned run allowed on three hits for a victory over the Cardinals on Friday.
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