Padres 2, Reds 1: Denorfia Delivers

Do you know how long it's been since there was baseball at Petco Park? Fifteen days. I don't know about you guys, but it feels good to have the boys back in town. Chris Denorfia felt pretty good to be back, too. He wasn't the only one who played well after a night in his own bed. Sean O'Sullivan pitched a solid six innings, allowing just one run despite giving up a handful of walks. Will Venable robbed a home run in the third like it was a routine play. Mark Kotsay made a great stop in the seventh to catch Joey Votto on trying to hustle out a double. But the bats spent most of the night asleep. Mike Leake gave up just four hits and two walks in seven shutout innings.

O'Sullivan got in trouble in the top of the fifth. Derrick Robinson hit one deep into the right field gap for a leadoff triple. Yonder Alonso tried to throw him out at home on the next play, but he wasn't fast enough to catch the speedy Robinson. To make matters worse, he missed the tag at first, letting Cesar Izturis reach base on an otherwise routine ball. O'Sullivan retired the next batter, but found himself in danger again after Jay Bruce hit a shallow fly to left field. Mark Kotsay couldn't reach it in time, and then it took an odd bounce into the stands. Ground rule double, runners on second and third, and only one out. Todd Frazier popped out, then Xavier Paul walked. O'Sullivan got out of the bases loaded jam by getting Devin Mesoraco to ground out to short.

And, well, that was that. Padres lose one-zip. Because when Aroldis Chapman comes in to close a game, that's it, right? I mean, have you seen how hard that guy throws? Yeah, sure, he has control issues from time to time. But a leadoff walk to Yonder Alonso doesn't mean anything. There's no way Chris Denorfia's going to do anything in a pinch hit appearance against a guy throwing 102 miles per hour. Except that on the very first pitch, Deno made contact with a 98 MPH fastball. It flew towards center field. And it just. Kept. Going. That's about as beautiful as a walkoff home run gets, guys.

Tomorrow, Edinson Volquez takes on former Padre Mat Latos at 7:10 PM.