SAN DIEGO — If the purpose was retaliation, it served to only make things worse for the woebegone Cincinnati Reds.
They came to town on a six-game skid, got mad and got swept by the Padres.
The Padres won the finale of the three-game series 6-0 Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park.
Rookie MacKenzie Gore threw five scoreless innings and earned his first major league win, Jurickson Profar hit his team-leading fourth home run and the Padres headed into their first off day of the season with a fourth consecutive victory and 9-5 record.
It was not going to be shocking if a Padres batter was plunked Wednesday. Two were. Both scored.
Reds starting pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez hit Manny Machado in the upper portion of his left arm to start the bottom of the fourth inning, which may or may not have been retribution for a slide by Luke Voit the previous night that irked the Reds.
Machado scored when Profar turned on a two-out first-pitch fastball and sent it over the wall in right field to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
Gutierrez began the next inning by again going up and in to hit Jorge Alfaro on the left hand. The Padres catcher was clearly in pain and spent a few minutes behind home plate being examined and shaking his hand. As that was happening, Reds manager David Bell asked for a replay review of whether the ball hit Alfaro’s hand or the bat. That review took about 30 seconds and confirmed Alfaro had been hit.
With two out and Trent Grisham at the plate, Alfaro took off for second on an 0-2 pitch and appeared to be thrown out by Reds catcher Aramis Garcia. But as shortstop Kyle Farmer, who had applied the tag, began to jog off the field he stopped to look at incredulously at second base umpire Mark Carlson, who had called Alfaro safe. Having lost his ability to challenge, Bell could do nothing.
Three pitches later, Grisham lined an RBI double to right field.
While no one in the Padres dugout appeared fazed by either hit batter and it is possible Gutierrez simply lost control of his fastball, it would be quite the coincidence that the Padres had their best player and their catcher plunked the day after the Reds were upset that their catcher suffered a concussion in a collision at home plate.
The play occurred in the first inning as Voit was sliding into home trying to score from third. After catcher Tyler Stephenson caught the relay throw from Farmer in the right-handed batter’s box, he crossed into Voit’s path to make the tag and his head collided with the burly Voit’s chest. Stephenson stayed down after the collision and left the game.
“I wasn’t trying to take him out or anything,” Voit said Tuesday night. “I guess my elbow kind of just smoked his head a little bit. I hope he’s all right. I mean, it ended up being a good throw, and the ball kind of took him in, and I tried to go around him. … I’m actually honestly surprised that he held on to it. It was pretty impressive.
“It was 250 pounds coming right at him. I mean, it’s baseball. I wasn’t trying to make it dirty or anything. Just trying to make a play, obviously. … Once I hit third, it’s like, ‘Here I go.’ I know it’s gonna be a close play. You obviously have no idea where the ball is gonna be. It just happens. I tried to avoid, tried to be safe, and that play ended up happening.”
Voit wasn’t in the lineup Wednesday and was not in the clubhouse before the game to respond to comments made by some Reds players after Tuesday’s game. In particular, former Padre Tommy Pham called the slide “dirty” and essentially challenged Voit to a fight.
“The way his hands hit him, it was dirty as (expletive),” Pham said Tuesday night. “I don’t like it at all. The way his hands hit him in the face, it was dirty. If Luke wants to settle it, I get down really well. Anything, Muay Thai, whatever. I’ve got a (gym) owner here who will let me use his facility. So, (expletive) ‘em.”
Gore, who went 5 1/3 innings in his major league debut Friday, threw 88 pitches in his five innings. He struck out seven, allowed four hits and walked two, and he got a big assist from Profar in the field just before Profar put Gore in position to get the win.
A single by Joey Votto with one out in the top of the fourth inning halted a streak of seven batters retired for Gore, who then walked Nick Senzel to move Votto to second. After Aristides Aquino struck out, Colin Moran grounded a single into left field that Profar fielded and fired home to get Votto and end the inning.
Gore stranded a runner in the fifth. Four relievers — Steven Wilson, Pierce Johnson, Luis Garcia and Dinelson Lamet — worked an inning apiece to finish the game.
Ha-seong Kim’s first home run of the season made it 4-0 in the seventh. Alfaro’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly and an RBI double by CJ Abrams added the final two runs in the eighth.
