Cincinnati Reds end losing streak to San Diego Padres with Tyler Stephenson walk-off hit

After the Cincinnati Reds lost their first six games of their season series against the San Diego Padres in nearly every way imaginable, they did the improbable Thursday.

Kyle Farmer hammered a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, connecting on a cutter that didn’t cut, and Tyler Stephenson hit a walk-off single to give the Reds a stunning 5-4 victory at Great American Ball Park in front of 16,620 fans.

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Things seemed lined up for more heartbreak. The Reds left a season-high 15 runners on base through the first eight innings, at least one in each of the first eight innings. The Padres scored a go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning when third baseman Alejo Lopez bounced a throw to first on a routine grounder.

Padres closer Mark Melancon, who leads the National League with 25 saves, couldn’t hold off the Reds in the bottom of the ninth. After Farmer’s game-tying blast – his sixth homer of the season – pinch-hitter Tucker Barnhart worked a walk. Jonathan India followed with a line drive into left field, which Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar dropped as he fell to the ground.

Jesse Winker grounded into a fielder’s choice with an out at the plate. The Padres intentionally walked Nick Castellanos to bring up Stephenson. It was Stephenson’s second walk-off hit of the season and his teammates mobbed him in shallow right field.  

The win saved an excellent start from Luis Castillo, who pitched better than the box score suggests, and took Lopez off the hook. 

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Lopez experienced all the highs and lows that the game has to offer. He hit four singles and scored twice. Then he was picked off first base, committed an error that led the game-winning run and grounded into a double play in his fifth at-bat with two runners on base.

When he returned to the dugout after his error, Jesse Winker patted him on the back and Joey Votto, who tried to pick the spiked throw on a short hop, chatted with Lopez as they studied the pitcher for their next at-bat.

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Castillo, who had a 1.71 ERA in his last five starts, was electric for the first four innings. He didn’t allow a hit and faced the minimum number of batters. He walked the first batter of the game, Trent Grisham, but he was erased from the base paths on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play with a bull's-eye’s throw from Stephenson.

Then, as luck would have it against the Padres, Castillo had to sit through a 52-minute rain delay after the fourth inning. He still managed to complete 6 1/3 innings and throw 103 pitches, including 56 following the delay.

Castillo walked the first batter he faced after the delay in the fifth inning and then lost his no-hitter on an infield single when Jonathan India slid to stop the ball and fell on his shoulder. India remained in the game after he was checked by a trainer.

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The Padres ended the shutout two batters later when Profar hit a double to the center-field wall.

In the seventh inning, Castillo permitted singles to the first two batters (one was another infield single). He threw a 100-mph fastball in the first inning, his hardest pitch of the season, and was still throwing 99 mph in the seventh. After a one-out walk loaded the bases, Reds manager David Bell opted to leave Castillo on the mound against pinch-hitter Tommy Pham.

Castillo opened with a 1-2 count against Pham, but Pham responded with a full-count, two-run single to tie the score. Pham had 11 hits in 21 at-bats against the Reds this season.

The Reds put a runner on base in all nine innings and outhit the Padres, 15-7.  

Padres left-hander Ryan Weathers made his first career start at Great American Ball Park. He spent several years of his childhood in the ballpark when his dad, David, pitched for the Reds from 2005-09. The proud dad watched from the stands.

Everyone who remains in the organization from that time vividly remembers David throwing batting practice to his young son in the outfield grass behind second base every home game. Ryan, not even 10 years old, crushed homers into the seats, over the eight-foot tall wall.

“I remember him in the clubhouse, hitting on the field, a big smile on his face, going in and having a slushie and a burger or something,” Joey Votto said. “Playing catch with his dad. Hanging out in the cage. I mean, they brought such good energy and he was such a good kid. He used to slip-and-slide in the shower area. They used to have water, soap and slide across the tile.”

The Reds scored two runs off Weathers in the second inning. The first three batters reached base through two singles and a walk. Castillo drove in a run on a fielder’s choice ground ball, then India followed with an RBI double to center.

In the fifth inning, after the rain, Lopez hit a two-out single to center. Lopez advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt and to third on a wild pitch. The next batter, Aristides Aquino, worked a 3-1 count and hammered a laser to the right-field wall for an RBI double. Aquino flexed toward his teammates in the dugout when he reached second base