SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jurickson Profar threw out Joey Votto at home and then hit a two-run homer for the San Diego Padres, who won 6-0 Wednesday to hand the Cincinnati Reds their ninth straight loss and their longest skid in five years.
Profar’s homer in the fourth inning gave rookie MacKenzie Gore (1-0) all the backing he needed for his first big league win, in his second start. The left-hander held the Reds to four hits in five innings, struck out seven and walked two to complete the three-game sweep.
Profar, the Padres’ left fielder, threw out Votto on the fly on Colin Moran’s single to end the fourth and keep the game scoreless. Profar homered to right off Vladimir Gutiérrez with two outs in the bottom of the inning to bring in Manny Machado. It was Profar’s fourth.
Machado was hit by a pitch on the left shoulder by Gutiérrez (0-3) leading off the fourth. On Tuesday night, Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson was knocked out of the game on a hard slide by Luke Voit. Some Reds players felt it was a dirty play by Voit and Tommy Pham, who played for the Padres the last two seasons, said he wanted to fight the Padres’ DH. The Reds asked for a review of the play but umpires ruled it was clean. Voit did not play Wednesday and Machado was the DH.
Gutierrez hit Padres catcher Jorge Alfaro with a pitch leading off the fifth. Alfaro stole second and scored on Trent Grisham’s double.
Cincinnati, shut out for the first time this year, had not lost nine straight since June 9-18, 2017. The Reds went winless on a seven-game West Coast trip that started at Dodger Stadium.
Kim Ha-seong homered for the Padres in the seventh, his first. Alfaro had a sacrifice fly and rookie CJ Abrams an RBI double in the eighth.
Gutiérrez allowed three runs and two hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two.
San Diego extended its major league record with 14 consecutive errorless games to open a season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Reds: Placed Stephenson on the seven-day concussion list. Recalled Mark Kolozsvary from the taxi squad.
UP NEXT
Reds: RHP Hunter Greene (1-1, 4.35) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game home series against St. Louis, which will counter with LHP Steven Matz (1-1, 7.27).
Padres: RHP Nick Martinez (0-1, 4.50) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. The Dodgers will start Julio Urias (0-1, 3.86).
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