Gavin Sheets provided some offense and added a stellar play on defense to help the San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Great American Ballpark, Saturday.
Sheets stepped to the plate in the top of the seventh inning and provided his most important contribution of the game. Sheets blasted a three-run home run to right field that put the Padres ahead of the Reds, 6-4.
The home run for Sheets was his 13th of the season and was the third home run of the game for San Diego. Luis Arraez got the Padres on the board in the top of the fifth inning with his team trailing, 3-0. Arraez hit a solo home run to right field to make the score, 3-1.
Jake Cronenworth followed suit in the top of the sixth inning. He delivered a two-run home run to right field after the Reds scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, making the score 4-3.
Jackson Merrill doubled down the right field line to start the top of the seventh inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to right-center, which allowed Merrill to tag and advance to third base. Xander Bogaerts drew a one-out walk to put runners at the corners and set the table for Sheets’ go-ahead home run.
Sheets combined his powerful day at the plate with a diving defensive play in left field to end the bottom of the fifth. Brian Hoeing was facing Rece Hinds with two outs and runner at third base with San Diego trailing, 4-1. Hinds hit a line drive into left field and Sheets made a diving play, running toward the foul line, to keep the three-run deficit and end the inning.
Robert Suarez came on in the bottom of the ninth inning after serving his two game suspension for hitting Shohei Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a pitch. He struck out the first batter, walked the second batter and got a fly out to right field. Suarez faced Elly De La Cruz as the tying run and allowed a walk to put two runners on and bring the winning run to the plate.
Spencer Steer, who hit three home runs in the first game of the series on Friday, came up as the winning run with two on and two out. He did not even put the ball in play as Suarez blew him away with a fastball and got Steer to strikeout out swinging to earn the save and end the game.
The Padres finished their series with the Reds, Sunday at 10:40 a.m.