SAN DIEGO _ At 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, the San Diego Padres' Franmil Reyes doesn't need to get all of a pitch to conquer even the biggest of yards. The damage he inflicts when he does is jaw-dropping.
Tuesday's sixth-inning blast was as timely as it was impressive, the 442-foot, 110-mph drive delivering the tying and go-ahead runs in a 9-5 win over the Miami Marlins that Padres manager Andy Green protected by inserting his closer in the eighth inning for the most pivotal outs of the game.
Brad Hand, too, was impressive in striking out two of the three middle-of-the order batters he faced before a four-run eighth ensured Reyes' blast stood as the decisive blow.
There was no doubt about it either.
Down by a run in the sixth inning, Marlins starter Dan Straily left a 3-1 slider over the plate and Reyes swung almost effortlessly at the offering. He then took a couple steps toward first, nonchalantly tossed the bat aside and pointed toward the Padres dugout as he began to jog toward first base.
The 23-year-old Reyes didn't bother to watch his drive settle into the second deck in left-center.
The blast was Reyes' third of the season and the second in as many days, a reminder of the threat he poses even while hitting .189 through his first 12 games in the majors.
Before the sixth, Padres starter Tyson Ross looked like he might cruise to his fifth win against the Marlins, owners of the second-worst record in the majors. He allowed a run-scoring single to Brian Anderson in the fourth inning and back-to-back hits to start the sixth _ a single to Derek Dietrich and J.T. Realmuto's ensuing triple _ to shave his lead to 3-2.
After a strikeout of Justin Bour, Green called on Craig Stammen with Ross sitting on 87 pitches through 5 1/3 innings.
The move backfired.
Anderson greeted Stammen with a single, tying the game before J.B. Shuck's two-out double gave the Marlins a 4-3 lead.
Ross struck out four and allowed three runs on six hits and a walk as his ERA rose from 3.13 to 3.29.
Before Reyes' blast, Straily had settled down after allowing three runs _ two earned _ in the first inning.
Travis Jankowski, Cory Spangenberg and Eric Hosmer all singled sharply to open the game, with two runs scoring on Hosmer's single when Lewis Brinson muffed the ball in center field. Raffy Lopez's one-out single then opened a 3-0 lead, the last run before Reyes' monstrous blast chased Straily in the sixth inning.
Lopez added a bases-loaded walk in the eighth, Christian Villanueva singled in two more and another scored when Brinson misplayed Galvis' drive in center to open a 9-4 lead after Hand struck out Realmuto and Bour in a one-two-three ninth.
With the save no longer in play, Green called on Kazuhisa Makita, who allowed an inside-the-park home run when J.T. Riddle's sinking liner skipped past Manuel Margot's attempt at a sliding catch in center and was lifted for Kirby Yates when Travis Jankowski couldn't quite come up with a diving catch in right.
Yates retired the next three hitters without incident.
