CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Juan Brito hit his first home run, JJ Bleday and Héctor Rodríguez also went deep and the Cincinnati Reds scored seven unanswered runs to beat the San Diego Padres 7-3 on Wednesday.
Cincinnati (67-73) sat six games back of Arizona and San Diego for the third and final NL wild-card spot after the win. The Diamondbacks host the Phillies, the top wild card, later Wednesday.
Brito had a game-tying, three-run shot into the right-field
seats in the third inning. Two batters later, Rodríguez tacked on a solo shot to give Cincinnati the lead. Rodríguez has five homers in his last 10 games.
Bleday capped the scoring in the seventh with his 22nd homer of the season, a two-run, 416-foot hit to help the Reds clinch the three-game series. Matt McLain added an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Brandon Williamson (3-3) pitched a season-best 5 1/3 innings for Cincinnati, striking out five and allowing three runs on seven hits. Pierce Johnson, Tejay Antone, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagán went hitless out of the bullpen to seal the win.
Ty France gave San Diego a 2-0 lead in the first inning with his 20th home run of the season, and Fernando Tatis Jr. plated the Padres' final run in the second with an RBI single.
Casey Mize (5-9) threw four innings for the Padres and surrendered four runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Since being traded on Aug. 3 from the Detroit Tigers, Mize has 20 earned runs and 15 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched for San Diego.
Padres: RHP Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.66 ERA) starts Game 1 of a three-game series against the New York Yankees on Friday.
Reds: RHP Rhett Lowder (6-8, 5.14) takes the mound Friday for the opener of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
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