SAN DIEGO _ Yes, Franchy Cordero showed bunt. It was only a show. The 22-year-old rookie, too, believes he's swinging the bat too well at the moment to give himself up.
"I was just trying to bring the infield in," Cordero said through an interpreter after his seventh-inning single propelled the Padres to a 4-2 win over the Reds on Wednesday afternoon and just San Diego's second series sweep of the season. "I was trying to bring them in just a little more. Then any ball I hit would be able to get through."
It worked.
Cordero's single through the right side of the infield with runners on first and second staked the Padres to their first lead of the afternoon. It was his seventh hit of a series that saw the converted center field prospect blast the first three homers of his career _ including two on Tuesday _ double and drive in four runs in 14 at-bats.
Which is why third baseman Glenn Hoffman felt compelled to have a brief conversation with Cordero drawing strike one with a half-hearted attempt at a bunt with runners on first and second.
The reliever, Michael Lorenzen, had walked the first two hitters on eight pitches. No one outside Jose Pirela was swinging the bat better than Cordero. The message was succinct when Hoffman called timeout to speak into the Dominican's ear just up the third base line.
Hoffman just hoped nothing was lost in translation when he delivering the directive in English: Swing.
"I didn't know the Spanish word for 'swing,'" Hoffman said with a chuckle, "but he got it."
Cordero's getting a lot these days.
His second single of the afternoon pushed his batting line to .339/.383/.625 through his first 17 games in the majors and _ paired with Hunter Renfroe's game-tying blast in the sixth _ made right-hander Jhoulys Chacin (6-5, 5.10 ERA) a winner for the fourth time in seven Petco Park starts (1.72 ERA).
The 29-year-old Venezuelan struck out four, walked one and allowed two hits _ Jose Peraza's homer to lead off the game and Joey Votto's solo shot in the fourth _ over an efficient seven-inning outing that might have gone even longer had his spot in the lineup not come up to lead off the seventh.
"He was really pitch-efficient all day, the two home runs being the only damage," Green said. "The rest of the day he was getting early action with pitches just outside the strike zone very often. That's a great recipe for success."
At 85 pitches in a 2-2 game, Chacin was lifted for pinch-hitter Matt Szczur, who walked to lead off the inning.
Pirela followed with a walk and Cordero pulled a 1-1, 91 mph cutter through the right side of the infield to give the Padres their first lead of the game. Renfroe's RBI groundout to second with the bases loaded extended that advantage to 4-2 before Brad Hand and Brandon Maurer closed the game with scoreless frames.
An inning before Cordero's go-ahead single, Renfroe interrupted a 1-for-19 slump with a two-run, 433-foot homer off Amir Garrett (6 IP) that bounced off the back of the Estrella Jalisco Landing deck in left field.
The home run was his 14th of the season, tied with Nate Colbert (1969) for the most by a Padres rookie before the All-Star break despite his .224 batting average.
"He's a power guy," Green said. "At the end of the day he's going to run through phases where he's not squaring the ball up consistently. What we want as an organization when he's going through those stretches, if he's staying in the strike zone, it's going to come back quicker."
