Franmil's moonshot leads Padres to victory

SAN DIEGO -- Tales of Franmil Reyes' prodigious power followed the 6-foot-5, 275-pound slugger throughout the Minor Leagues. Reyes, called up to the Padres earlier this month, is finally getting the chance to put it on display at Petco Park.
He hasn't disappointed.
The rookie right fielder crushed his third homer of the season -- and easily his most majestic -- sending the Padres to a 9-5 victory over the Marlins on Tuesday night. Reyes turned around a 3-1 slider from Dan Straily and sent it 442 feet into the right-most section of the left-field upper deck, rarified territory at Petco Park.
"He threw me that pitch in the first at-bat when he struck me out," Reyes said. "I [made] an adjustment. ... And when I saw the count, 3-1, I thought he was coming with the same pitch, and I just got ready for it."
Reyes' sixth-inning blast -- a rocket with an exit velocity of 109.8 mph -- put the Padres on top, 5-4, half an inning after they coughed up a two-run lead.
"The Franmil Reyes home run woke us up again," said Padres manager Andy Green. "That ball was crushed."
Reyes tore apart Triple-A pitching for the season's first month and a half. The Padres, with a banged up outfield, figured mid-May was the right time to get a look at Reyes against big league competition.
Upon his callup, Reyes instantly found himself in a funk at the plate. That could be nearing its end. He's now homered in consecutive games, and in the fourth inning Tuesday, he scorched a 115-mph rocket to shortstop.
"I thought he was anxious when he showed up," Green said. "It's not surprising. He was wanting to do a lot really fast. You can see him settling. ... He seems more relaxed, he seems more at ease."

Starter Tyson Ross was sharp for five frames, before he ran into trouble in the sixth. Derek Dietrich led off the frame with a single, and J.T. Realmuto crushed a triple into the left-field corner to bring Miami within one. After Justin Bour struck out, Green called on his bullpen, despite the fact that Ross was sitting on just 87 pitches.
In the short-term, the move backfired. Brian Anderson smacked a game-tying single, and J.B. Shuck swatted a go-ahead double before Craig Stammen escaped.

"The Bour at-bat, to me, was a grind at-bat," Green said "... In my mind right there, Craig's fresh, he's ready to go, he matches up well. That guy's gotten the job done so many times in situations like that. Today he wasn't able to."
Reyes' homer took Stammen -- and perhaps Green -- off the hook.
Ross finished his day with three earned runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. The Padres scored four insurance runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Strong start:Travis Jankowski and Cory Spangenberg opened the bottom of the first with consecutive singles. They would both score on the first of Eric Hosmer's three hits -- with some help from a Lewis Brinson error in center field. Hosmer singled, plating Jankowski, and Spangenberg capitalized when the ball kicked off the heel of Brinson's glove. Raffy Lopez drove Hosmer in with an RBI single later in the frame, giving the Padres an early 3-0 lead.

Strong finish: The first six Padres all reached base in the eighth via three hits, two walks and an error. The inning's biggest blow was a pinch-hit two-run single from Christian Villanueva, putting San Diego on top, 8-4. (The insurance runs came in handy, as JT Riddle smacked an inside-the-park homer in the ninth, past a diving Manuel Margot in center field.)

ROLE REVERSAL
With the heart of the Marlins' order due up in the eighth, Green flipped the roles of closer Brad Hand and setup man Kirby Yates. He felt as though the lefty Hand was the best matchup for the righty-hitting Realmuto (given his reverse splits) and the lefty-hitting Bour. Hand struck both out, then got Anderson to fly to right.
"I've trusted Kirby with the heart of the order a lot of times," Green said. "It was just about what those guys do and don't do well. ... That was the right spot for Brad to throw."
Yates entered in the ninth, only after Kazuhisa Makita surrendered the inside-the-park homer and an ensuing single. He retired all three batters he faced.
SOUND SMART
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Reyes' home run was the opposing pitcher. In his five May starts, Straily had allowed just two right-handed hitters to reach base in 37 plate appearances -- both infield singles. There was nothing cheap about Reyes' blast.
HE SAID IT
"It was a breaking ball, a slower pitch. I just see it hanging, and why not pull it?" -- Reyes, on his home run
UP NEXT
Clayton Richard owns a 2.68 ERA in five starts -- all quality -- against opponents outside the National League West (compared with a 7.80 mark in starts against divisional opposition). He faces the Marlins on Wednesday in the third game of a four-game set. Miami counters with right-hander José Ureña. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. PT.