Lawrence tosses great performance.

Game 1,
at San Diego,

Brooks Lawrence was in full control of this match as he earned his 7th win of the season with a sterling complete game victory. Lawrence scattered 8 hits and 2 runs over the course of the game. The Red bats were on fire as the crushed four homeruns off Padre starter Andy Benes and for good measure, they hit another dinger off reliever Jose Melendez.  Frank Robinson collected 3 hits including a homerun to lead the way. Ed Bailey added two homeruns during the game to help support the offense. Reds 6  Padres 2.


Game 2,

The Padres paid back the Reds big time in the second game of the series. It was a flip flop performance of the first game. This time it was a Padre hurler tossing the gem. Bruce Hurse went the distance to finish the season at 6-4 with a sparkling 2.93 ERA.  Hurst struck out 6 Red batters and kept them off balance the whole game. However the story of the game was the Friar Bats.  San Diego hit 6 homeruns in the game as balls were flying out of Jack Murphy Stadium.  Fred McGriff hit two(# 7,8), Tim Teufel connected for a pair (#3,4) and Darrin Jackson hit two more( #9,10). Fred McGriff went 4 for 4 with 3 RBI in the contest. Padres 9   Reds 2.

Crime Dog fights crime with 2 dingers.

Game 3,
at Crosley Field,

Joe Nuxhall and Don Gross combined for a shut out as the series continued in Cincinnati.  Nuxhall went the first 7.2 innings surrendering 8 hits. When Nuxhall's stuff went flat, Don Gross came in to mop up the final inning and a third. More homeruns were hit in this game as Frank Robinson, Gus Bell, and Ted Kluszewski all went yard in this one sided affair.  Padre curve ball specialist Greg Harris got the start and was battered for 6 runs over 7 innings and fell to 3-2. Nuxhall improved to 3-2. Reds 6  Padres 0.

Game 4,

Ted Kluszewski connected for his 15th homerun of the season in the first inning off Padre starter Adam Peterson to lead the Reds to a third victory of this 4 game set.  However the Reds really pounded reliever Rich Rodriguez as they roughed him up for 9 runs over 2.1 innings pitched. To Rodriquez's credit, not all the runs were his doing as Padre shortstop Craig Shipley committed two costly errors to make 5 of those runs unearned.  Tom Acker evened his record to 1-1 with 6 solid innings of work.  Gus Bell collected 4 hits and drove in 3 in the game to blow out the Friars in the finale of the season.  Reds 11  Padres 1.