EditorsNote: Corrected inning of three-run frame
Luis Castillo allowed one run over six innings and Cincinnati's offense took advantage of an outfield error and three walks to score three runs in the third as the host Reds recorded a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday afternoon.
Jose Iglesias hit a fourth-inning homer off Padres reliever Luis Perdomo to give the Reds their final run in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Castillo (12-5) permitted five hits and struck out four as he lowered his earned run average to 3.04.
Left-handed reliever Matt Strahm held the Reds scoreless in the first two innings and San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Ty France singled and scored on Greg Garcia's two-out double to right-center.
The Reds took the lead in the bottom of the inning as right-hander Eric Yardley (0-1) got little support in his major league debut.
Rookie Nick Senzel opened the inning by reaching second after San Diego rookie left fielder Josh Naylor dropped a fly ball for a two-base error. After Iglesias sacrificed Senzel to third, he scored on a game-tying single by Eugenio Suarez.
Yardley then walked rookie Aristides Aquino and gave up a bases-loading single to Phillip Ervin to both load the bases and force his exit from the game. Trey Wingenter immediately issued a bases-loaded walk to former Padre Freddy Galvis and yielded a second bases-loaded walk to rookie Josh VanMeter after striking out Tucker Barnhart.
Yardley was charged with three runs (one earned) in one-third of an inning to take the loss in his debut, which came three days after his 29th birthday.
Switch-hitting catcher Francisco Mejia cut the Reds' lead to 4-2 when he led off the seventh inning against right-handed Reds' reliever Lucas Sims for his eighth homer.
Right-hander Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his 26th save for Cincinnati, which saw its relievers retire nine straight Padres after Mejia's homer to end the game.
--Field Level Media
