Reds' bullpen holds the line until Stewart's decisive blast ends standoff in 11th

SAN DIEGO -- The Reds bullpen has taken lumps and it's taken much of the blame for the skid the club has endured the past several weeks. On Tuesday, it deserved a lot of the credit, even though it was Sal Stewart's big two-run home run in the top of the 11th inning that ultimately delivered a 5-3 victory over the Padres.

Before Stewart's homer, the bullpen did not allow an earned run over the final 5 2/3 innings despite a lot of San Diego scoring chances.

“This was the epitome of a team win," Stewart said. "I’m proud to call these guys my teammates. We’ve been on a bad stretch, but the ones that always believe are the ones in here.”

A five-game losing streak was halted. Cincinnati had also dropped nine of the previous 11 games.

Coming in, Reds relievers were 2-11 with a 7.00 ERA over their last 38 games. Only three of the eight relievers who opened the season are still on the active roster.

Having Tejay Antone -- who came back last month from a third Tommy John surgery -- and rookie Zach Maxwell pitching at the end of the game wasn't part of the original blueprint for finishing wins.

“I was actually thrilled for everybody. It’s been tough sledding," manager Terry Francona said. "I know one game doesn’t make our season. I’m well aware of that, but it’s nice to be able to brag about them for a night because they did a good job.”

It was 2-2 when Reds starter Chase Burns departed after 5 1/3 innings and a career-high 105 pitches with two runners in scoring position. In the first of several tests for the bullpen, lefty Brock Burke intentionally walked first batter Miguel Andujar, but got Freddy Fermin to ground toward first base, where Nathaniel Lowe fired home to begin the inning-ending double play.

Burke returned and provided a scoreless seventh inning, too. The eighth inning saw Caleb Ferguson give up a leadoff double to Manny Machado, but with runners on the corners with one out, Tony Santillan struck out Samad Taylor and then got a broken-bat shallow fly ball from Jase Bowen. It took right fielder Blake Dunn's marvelous diving catch to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring.

Santillan gave up a pair of one-out singles in the ninth inning, then Sam Moll took over. The lefty had no play on a Jackson Merrill squib single that loaded the bases. But Moll struck out Machado and Gavin Sheets to force extras.

In his previous 14 games, Santillan had been scored on eight times for an 11.81 ERA.

“He’s got a big heart," Francona said. "I know the numbers, but he’s very important to what we’re doing.”

Coming off a scoreless appearance at St. Louis on Sunday, Santillan has stacked back-to-back positive outings.

“It feels good," Santillan said. "I’ve been putting in a lot of work to get some things better. The last week or so, it’s been really good translating what I’ve worked on into the game.

"More importantly, as a group, today was really good. We speak about it all the time, pick each other up. That’s what makes a really good bullpen. Everyone picks each other up. Everyone believes in one another, regardless of the situation.”

Opening the 10th inning, Eugenio Suárez hit an RBI double down the left-field line. Before that hit, the Reds were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position while stranding 12 on base. But in the bottom half, Antone gave up Taylor's one-out RBI single to center field to force another inning.

Facing Padres reliever Yuki Matsui with one out and a runner on third base, Stewart clobbered a first-pitch splitter and drove it to center field for his team-leading 13th homer of the season.

With only two available relievers left in the Reds bullpen, the ball went to Maxwell. The big right-hander took a 16.20 ERA over five appearances into the 11th inning and had given up four runs and three hits on Friday at St. Louis in his last game.

Maxwell delivered a 1-2-3 frame to lock down his first big league save.

“It was actually -- it might sound kind of masochistic -- but it was a fun game to be a part of," Francona said. "God, it was so much going on, and our guys, there was a lot of frustration. We left some runners out there early, but we didn’t pay for it. They kept playing. There was good energy.

"I was really excited about that because, man, when you’re getting beat up and then things don’t go well, they just kept plugging and that was good to see.”