Padres Come Back Against Reds Thursday

The Padres battled back for a dramatic comeback against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, going from down 4-2 to leading 7-4. The whole team seemed to chip in on the night to save the night for Padres starter Christian Friedrich.

The Padres only got 5 innings out of Friedrich, who struggled with his control and took 101 pitches to get through those five. The bullpen picked it up with four scoreless innings and Fernando Rodney wrapped things up with his 16th save.

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Derek Norris, a subject of trade talks, was the big hero on the night. His home run in the 6th gave the Padres the lead they would not relinquish. Reds Manager Bryan Price talked about his decision making process for the night:

“In the sixth, I think the at-bat to Solarte took a lot out of [Lamb] as well and he did a really nice job of fighting off pitches before he was able to hit something out to left field for a base hit. At that point in time, I pretty much was convinced it was time for John to come out of the game. The end result wasn’t very good.”

Friedrich struggled with his command throughout the night as many of his pitches were staying high out of the zone. To take advantage of his 6’4″ frame he needs to stay low in the zone with a dramatic angle downward and as a left-hander.

Next: Derek Norris Getting Hot At Right Time

Travis Jankowski continues to take advantage of his playing time with Jon Jay hurt as he went 2-5 and his 9th stolen base of the season. Melvin Upton Jr.added to his team leading total with his 16th and also went 2-4 on the night.

The Padres continue their series against the Reds Friday night with Colin Rea (3-3, 5.02 ERA) taking the hill against Cody Reed making his second start of the year for the Reds.