EditorsNote: rewords third, fourth, sixth and ninth grafs
Freddy Galvis continued his strong early run with Cincinnati by belting a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Sonny Gray struck out 10 to win his fourth straight decision as the Reds beat the visiting San Diego Padres 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Galvis, claimed off waivers on Aug. 12, is 12-for-29 (.414) with three homers and six RBIs in eight games for Cincinnati. His opposite-field shot to left snapped a 1-1 tied and helped the Reds avoid a third consecutive loss.
Gray (9-6), meanwhile, saw his impressive scoreless-inning streak end at 23 when Josh Naylor hit a game-tying solo homer with two outs in the top of the sixth. However, that was all Gray allowed while fanning 10 for a second straight start.
In the first inning, rookie Aristides Aquino dropped a two-out single in front of right fielder Naylor to plate Josh VanMeter from third base and give Cincinnati a 1-0 lead. While Aquino failed to homer for a third straight game, he's still batting .313 with 11 homers and 23 RBIs in 19 games this year.
Gray retired nine in a row until Naylor punished a 424-foot shot over the center field wall for his seventh home run.
San Diego starter Cal Quantrill (6-4) retired 12 in a row at one point, but in the bottom of the sixth, he allowed a leadoff single to VanMeter before the former Padre Galvis went deep to give the Reds a 3-1 advantage. It was the second homer in as many nights for Galvis, and it was his career-high 21st long ball of the season.
Quantrill gave up three runs on five hits in six innings while striking out nine without a walk.
Reds reliever Amir Garrett returned from an eight-game suspension for his role in a recent brawl with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he was quickly pulled after walking the first two batters of the eighth inning.
Michael Lorenzen entered and got Manny Machado to fly out. Lorenzen then appeared to have induced a 4-6-3 double play on Eric Hosmer to end the inning, but shortstop Jose Iglesias' throw to first was wide and allowed Greg Garcia to score from second to make it a 3-2 game. Francisco Mejia, though, flied out to end the inning.
Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 25th save.
--Field Level Media
