Padres rally in sixth to walk-off in extra innings over Reds

SAN DIEGO - All it took was one inning for the San Diego Padres to completely flip the script during their 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. 

The 40,248 fans in attendance (61st sell-out of the season) at Petco Park went absolutely ballistic following the Padres' three-spot during the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game. What seemed far-fetched though was the Padres ability to garner a rally after being held scoreless through the first five innings by Reds' LHP Nick Lodolo.

Lodolo was on a tear through five innings of work, allowing just two hits and two strikeouts and was in full command on the mound.

"We're trying to fight for abs (at-bats)," Jackson Merrill said. "Lodolo is disgusting today. And I put him up there as one of the best arms we faced all year... We didn't score off him, but you know, we did our best and that's all that matters to me." 

The only batter for San Diego that managed to do surmount anything against him was the DH Gavin Sheets, who reached on base twice with a walk and double.

However, when the Reds surprisingly turned to reliever Scott Barlow at the start of the sixth inning, that's when the tide began to turn. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. kicked it off with a ground ball single, and later put himself into scoring position after stealing his 28th bag. After Luis Arraez and Manny Machado were put down, it set the stage for Sheets to crack open the first run of the evening for the Padres following his second consecutive double, recording his 25th double along with his 64th RBI of the season. 

Ramón Laureano would draw a walk next, which allowed Merrill to go full Merrill Madness with a two-run triple on a fly-ball to right field to tie it at 3-3. 

The game would go into extra innings where Tatis Jr. sent the Reds packing after hitting a walk-off sac-fly to center field to score Jake Cronenworth. Catcher Freddy Fermin laid down a successful lead-off sac-bunt that pushed Cronenworth to third, which allowed Tatis to follow suit with a situational at-bat.  

"Freddy's bunt and Tati's nice piece of situational hitting, not trying to do too much," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "It was, is a really good baseball game." 

"I honestly appreciated coming back tonight than just like blowing them out," Merrill said. "It proved a lot in us and our determination, what we want to do this year. You know, not giving up after we go down three. It means a lot to me and our team." 

RHP Yu Darvish put up another solid, but not great 12th start of the season. The 39-year-old went 5 ⅔ innings, giving up three earned runs(two were on the long ball), six hits, seven strikeouts and no walks allowed. 

Both bullpens were in full display, using a total of 14 pitchers (seven by both teams), which is nothing new to the Friars, being their strategy this far along this season. This could though favor their chances to winning the series as they forced the Reds to use a lot their pieces with two games to be played. 

"To come up in that big inning... and put together three right there. Strung a lot of good at-bats together... That's winning baseball," Sheets said. "(We) used a lot of their bullpen arms tonight and obviously our bullpen shut it down like usual." 

Alongside the Dodgers winning their game against the Rockies, they are still a game behind the defending champs for the top spot in the division. And with 19 games remaining until the start of the postseason, the Padres, as well as the Dodgers, are in the middle of a pivotal stretch that will decide who and where they'll play by the time October rolls around. 

"The biggest thing is obviously we're in a tough stretch and I said we need to get out of it as soon as possible," Sheets said. "I feel like we're playing complete baseball on both sides of the ball. You know, obviously we weren't doing that for a little stretch there and for us to come together as a team and switch that around really quick and play some good baseball right now is great."   

First pitch of the middle game will take place at 6:40 p.m., where it will feature the return of Padres' starting pitcher Michael King (4-2, 2.81 ERA), who was on the 15-day injured list after dealing with knee inflammation. The Reds will have RHP Zack Littell (9-8, 3.81 ERA) on the opposing mound. 

"I'm happy to have him back," Darvish said when asked about getting King back to the rotation. "I think this goes for every pitcher, but when you go on the IL, you're not necessarily the best sort of mood... I feel good for him that he's coming back."