Reds 3, Padres 2: Missed opportunities lead to series finale loss

The Padres had some chances to take the series against the Reds today, but things didn’t break their way. Homer Bailey held the team to two runs in 5.2 innings as he returned from Tommy John surgery. Jose Peraza did most of the damage against Padres pitching, putting a dent in the Western Metal Building with his first career homer. Paul Clemens had a solid day on the mound, fanning five and only allowing two runs, but he had to leave in the fifth due to injury.

The good news is that Clemens isn’t expected to miss any time.

The Friars got on the board in the first with some classic small-ball. Travis Jankowski led off with a single to left, then went to second on a ground out. The speedy center fielder swiped third, then scored on a ground out from Wil Myers. The lead didn’t last long, with Peraza’s two-run bomb coming in the top of the second.

The Reds tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth. Buddy Baumann came in and gave up back to back singles before Andy Green turned to Jose Dominguez. He allowed another single to load the bases. A force out at home and a pop-up nearly got him out of the jam, but Tucker Barnhart bounced a grounder off the pitcher’s foot for one more single.

A strange bottom half of the sixth nearly tied things back up. Amarista hit a one-out single, then Myers took a free pass to first. The two then pulled off a double steal to put the tying run in scoring position. Then Bailey walked Ryan Schmipf, which might have loaded the bases, had ball four not bounced away from the catcher. Amarista tried to score, but was just a hair too slow. And he would have scored anyway, since Bailey issued yet another walk to Jabari Blash. Wil Myers was paying attention though, and when Bailey turned his back on the plate without calling timeout to yell at himself, Myers swiped home standing up.

That was the last they would score, though, as Blake Wood wrapped up the inning for the Reds and the rest of the Cincinnati bullpen shut the Padres down.

The Brewers come to town tomorrow (whether Jonathan Lucroy will join them remains to be seen), with first pitch coming at 7:10 PM.