Nick Lodolo gave up a leadoff home run to Jurickson Profar. It was the only hit he allowed over seven frames that saw him strike out a career high 11 batters as the Cincinnati Reds topped the San Diego Padres 5-2 to open up a series at Petco Park on Monday night.
Final | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati Reds (16-13) |
5 | 8 | 1 |
San Diego Padres (14-18) |
2 | 4 | 1 |
W: Lodolo (3-0) L: Waldron (1-3) | |||
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread |
Elly De La Cruz wasted little time making history on Monday night as he crushed a 443-foot solo home run in the 1st inning. That gave him eight homers and 17 steals in April. He’s the only player to have that many home runs and that many steals in any month since at least 1901 according to Sarah Langs. Joe Morgan is the only other player in history with at least eight home runs and 15 steals in a month (August of 1976).
The Padres would get that run back when Jurickson Profar homered to lead off the bottom of the inning. The game wouldn’t remain tied for that long as the Cincinnati offense went to work in the top of the 2nd inning. Nick Martini singled and moved to third base on a double by Jeimer Candelario. A sacrifice fly brought in the go-ahead run and then a balk led to a second run in the inning.
Nick Lodolo issued back-to-back walks to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. He would bounce back, though, striking out the next three batters to escape the jam. The Reds offense went back to work, plating another run when Will Benson and Spencer Steer doubled to make it 4-1.
With a bigger lead, Lodolo locked in. Over the next three innings he would pick up two strikeouts in each frame and not allow a hit. In the 6th inning, with Cincinnati still holding onto their 3-run lead, Lodolo didn’t pick up any strikeouts but was able to toss yet another perfect inning.
The next inning for the Reds lefty started with some help from Santiago Espinal on a slow roller that he barehanded and got the runner at first. A broken bat chopper to short followed. Lodolo needed six pitches to strike out Ha-Seong Kim to end the inning with his 99th pitch of the game and his 11th strikeout.
Fernando Cruz took over for Cincinnati in the bottom of the 8th and he worked a 1-2-3 inning. The Reds padded their lead in the top of the 9th inning when Santiago Espinal came through with a 2-out single that brought in Nick Martini from second base to make it 5-1.
Alexis Diaz entered the game for the bottom of the 9th, looking to shut the door on the Friars. He would get a pop up to begin the inning before striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. But Jake Cronenworth doubled to center and then scored when Manny Machado singled into right. Things didn’t end there, though, as a grounder to Elly De La Cruz resulted in an error as a high throw got by Jeimer Candelario at first to push the runners to second and third and keep the game going. Diaz took things into his own hands at that point and struck out Ha-Seong Kim to end the game.
Key Moment of the Game
Nick Lodolo clamping down in the 2nd inning after walking the first two hitters and then striking out the side. From that point forward he dominated the Padres.
Notes Worth Noting
Nick Lodolo’s 11 strikeouts set a new career high. He lowered his ERA to 1.88 on the season (24.0 innings, four starts).
We will see if it remains “on-file” or if it’s adjusted or removed due to error in calculation, but at the time of the play in the 9th by Elly De La Cruz, Hawkeye/Statcast registered his throwing error at 106.9 MPH. That’s more than 6 MPH faster than any other registered infield throw between AAA or MLB in the last two seasons. De La Cruz is the only player to top 100 MPH on a throw, topping out at 100.2 MPH last year with Louisville.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs San Diego Padres
Tuesday April 30th, 9:40pm ET
Nick Martinez (0-1, 5.48 ERA) vs TBA
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