| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
|  Cincinnati Reds  (43-39) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
|   San Diego Padres  (36-47) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
|  W: Hahn (4-1)     L: Latos (1-1) | |||
|  Fangraphs Win Probability |   The Worldwide Leader’s Box Score  |   Game Photos | |||
Mat Latos held the Padres to one hit in seven innings, a broken bat single. Latos walked only one batter, Tommy Medica, on five pitches to lead off the fifth inning. Medica then stole his first base of the year on a bang-bang play at second base. (He only had five SB in 4.5 years in the minor leagues.) Medica advanced to third on a fly ball to left center field, with the throw well up the third base line. And he scored on a sacrifice fly. Walks will haunt.
The Reds managed three hits (Hamilton, Frazier, Ludwick) and two walks in five innings off of rookie Jesse Hahn. Hahn, with just two pitches, struck out nine Reds batters, including seven outs in a row from the final out of the second inning (Latos) to the final out of the fourth (Ludwick). Hahn was sharp, but he was also helped by a strike zone as big as the U.S.S. Midway.
The Reds best chance of scoring off Hahn was in the first before he got in a groove, but Billy Hamilton’s league-leading twelfth caught-stealing played havoc with the Reds chances, costing an out and a base runner. Hamilton got a hit (good), is third in the NL in stolen bases (good) but has more CS than the two players ahead of him in SB combined (not good).
The Padres outfield made several outstanding defensive plays. Cameron Maybin robbed Joey Votto of a hit in the first with Todd Frazier on first base. Frazier was doubled off to end the inning. In the eighth inning, Maybin made an over-the-head catch on Skip Schumaker’s lead-off blast, which would have been a double or triple. Carlos Quentin “of all people” (Brantley) made two nice plays on Zack Cozart, including a diving catch in the seventh inning with Devin Mesoraco on second base.
Milwaukee, St. Louis and Pittsburgh were idle today.
Mat Latos’ continued an impressive streak of performances by the starting rotation. Over the previous five games, the Reds starting rotation pitched 39.1 innings, gave up five runs (1.15 ERA) on 19 hits. They walked 5 (3.6 BB%)  while striking out 31 (22.1 K%). They gave up only one home run and didn’t hit a batter. Giants manager Bruce Bochy commented:  “We ran into four starters as dominant as four starters I’ve ever seen before.”
Joey Votto obviously can’t swing off his back leg, robbing him of power. Even on one leg he’s a more valuable hitter than Brayan Peña, but you have to wonder if he should continue to bat third.