Padres at Reds
The Cincinnati Reds have executed some small ball before delivering a knockout punch with the long ball in each of their past two games. Buoyed by grand slams in consecutive wins that pushed the club's single-season record total to 11, the Reds hope to avoid more rain when they go for a third straight victory over the visiting San Diego Padres on Sunday.
Cincinnati capitalized on a misplayed bunt for the second straight day, leading to Joey Votto's grand slam that highlighted a seven-run inning in Saturday's rain-shortened 7-2 victory. Votto's blast, which ended a 36-game homerless drought dating to July 9, put the Reds within one of tying the National League record of 12 grand slams in a season. San Diego's Eric Hosmer belted a two-run homer for the second time in as many games and is 4-for-11 with two homers and five RBIs in the series. Rain has been a constant in the series, delaying Friday's game for more than 2 1/2 hours, prompting a start time of an hour earlier on Saturday and pushing back the start of Sunday's game three hours.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FS San Diego, FS Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Padres RH Jacob Nix (2-3, 4.85 ERA) vs. Reds RH Tyler Mahle (7-9, 4.95)
Nix will make his sixth start since he was summoned to the majors last month and has factored in the decision in each of his first five. The 22-year-old suffered his second loss to the Colorado Rockies last time out, giving up five runs on five hits over six innings. Nix had the best performance of his brief career in his previous turn, limiting Seattle to one run and eight hits over 8 1/3 innings.
The Reds bumped Homer Bailey and his 1-14 record from the rotation to give a second chance to Mahle, who failed to get through two innings in his last two starts and was shipped back to the minors. He made five starts at Triple-A Louisville and posted a 2.73 ERA. "I just worked on everything, breaking stuff and really trying to get my fastball command back to where I think it should be," Mahle told reporters.
WALK-OFFS
1. Reds SS Jose Peraza is 8-for-16 during a four-game hitting streak.
2. Hosmer has reached base safely in 10 consecutive games.
3. Reds 2B Scooter Gennett (thigh) has sat out two of three games in the series and was 0-for-5 Friday.