Padres pound Braves with four homers

Down 6-2 in seventh, and with runners on the corners, Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez was called for a balk to cut the deficit to three. Austin Riley, hitting cleanup for the second game in a row, couldn’t keep the momentum going and struck out to end the inning.

Riley is 0-for-6 with a walk in the series after going 3-for-4 with two homers Sunday against the Rangers.

The Braves finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Fernando Tatis Jr. then put the game out of reach in the eighth with a 474-foot bomb to left center off Braves’ reliever JR Ritchie. Ritchie ate 3 2/3 innings but also allowed three runs on three hits and walked three.

Braves starter Reynaldo López gave up an early run on three singles (the first of which was a swinging bunt by Tatis) in the first inning. Ty France gave the Padres the lead with an RBI base knock up the middle.

Veteran righty Walker Buehler, starting on the mound for the Padres, walked three of the first eight hitters he faced, and the latter two free passes came back to haunt him. After a mound visit, with two on and two out in the second, shortstop Jim Jarvis ambushed a first-pitch cutter for a two-run triple - his first of his young MLB career - into the right field gap.

That would go down as the lone offensive highlight for the Braves.

“You could probably freeze frame it and I had my eyes closed,” Jarvis said. “That was a pretty cool moment. You know, baseball, so you get lucky every once in a while.”

In the fourth, Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill tied the game at 2-2 with a solo home run to right, his 13th of the season. One out later in the inning, López walked Gavin Sheets and gave up a single to left to Xander Bogaerts. Luis Rengifo put the Padres ahead with a groundout to shortstop before Tatis made it 4-2 with a line-drive double into the right field corner.

Machado hit his 21st homer of the season, and his second in as many games against the Braves, when turned on a 3-0 fastball and planted it into the Hank Aaron Terrace in left leading off the top of the fifth.

“Obviously for me, my fastball needs to live in the corners, and specifically in the corners against righties,” López said via Braves team interpreter Franco Garcia. “I think it’s just about continuing to kind of develop that rhythm and just getting where I needs to be.”

López (4-3) lasted just two more batters and was lifted after logging 4 1/3 innings. The righty, making his fifth start since returning to the starting rotation, allowed five earned runs and walked three while the Padres banged nine hits off him.

Over his last two starts, López has surrendered nine earned runs and 14 hits over 9 1/3 innings.

“It feels like with every outing I’m getting one step closer to regaining that rhythm with all my pitches, and tonight’s outing it definitely felt like a step in the right direction,” López said.

Buehler (4-3), conversely, recalibrated and retired nine straight hitters between the third and fifth. He threw just 10 pitches in retiring the side in order in the fifth. Buehler left with two outs in the sixth and runners on second and third having allowed only two hits.

Machado padded the Padres’ lead in the sixth with a 418-foot homer to center field off Braves’ right-hander Ritchie. The Braves then left the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning.