Padres 5, Reds 0: Machado Goes 4-for-5 Behind King's Six Scoreless

Four hits from Machado, zeros from Cincinnati

August 31, 2026 – Cincinnati – Manny Machado singled, doubled, singled, and singled again. Michael King threw six scoreless with six strikeouts. The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on 15 hits and did not need a home run.

Machado went 4-for-5 behind King's six scoreless innings. Hart and Peralta finished the shutout. Brady Singer took the loss. Cincinnati went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

San Diego had just been swept in Tampa Bay. This one moved the Padres into a tie with Arizona for the third National League wild-card spot. Cincinnati is 65-73 and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The fourth inning did all the work

Brady Singer (5-13) lasted 4 1/3 innings, 10 hits, four earned, five strikeouts, no walks. The fourth is the inning that ended him as a winner.

Machado had already doubled. Jackson Merrill singled him home. Xander Bogaerts doubled to left, scoring Merrill and Ty France. Dustin Harris singled Bogaerts home. Four runs, nobody out yet in the inning when the damage was done. 4-0.

San Diego went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position. That is not a clean night. It is enough when the other club goes 0-for-7.

France added the fifth run in the seventh, a single that scored Fernando Tatis Jr. after Tatis doubled off P. Johnson. That was the last run. Fifteen hits, five runs, zero walks drawn. The Padres put the ball in play and let Cincinnati's defense and sequencing do the rest.

Machado's four-hit game was his first since July 27, 2025. He did not drive in a run. He set the table four times and left Singer with no clean inning in the middle of the order.

King, Hart, Peralta

King (9-9) worked six innings, four hits, three walks, six strikeouts, 96 pitches. ESPN called it his fifth straight quality start, the longest Padres streak of that kind since Matt Waldron in 2024. He hit Eugenio Suárez and Matt McLain. He still kept the zeros.

Kyle Hart threw two hitless innings and struck out four. Wandy Peralta allowed a ninth-inning single and struck out one. The staff finished with 11 strikeouts, five hits allowed, and a 1-2-3 feeling even when Cincinnati put men on.

The Reds had a double from Sal Stewart off King and not much else. They left 10 on base. A shutout with 10 stranded runners is a club that never found the one swing. Cincinnati's 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position is the whole second half of the box.

San Diego's 15 hits came without a walk. Singer, Antone, and the rest of the Reds staff never put Machado on for free. They just could not get him out. Merrill, Bogaerts, Harris, and France did the RBI work. Tatis's double in the seventh was the last extra-base spark.

Home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez left before the fifth with heat exhaustion after a fall between innings. Both training staffs treated him on the field. He walked off. D.J. Reyburn took over behind the plate. The game kept its shape.

The inning log is one loud frame and a lot of zeros. Fourth: Merrill single, Bogaerts double, Harris single, 4-0. Seventh: Tatis double, France single, 5-0. Cincinnati never scored in any inning. King, Hart, and Peralta faced 37 hitters as a staff and allowed five hits. San Diego left 11 on and still shut Cincinnati out. That is a 15-hit night that could have been 8-0 and did not need to be.

King's fifth straight quality start is the rotation note. Machado's first four-hit game since July 27, 2025 is the lineup note. The Reds' 0-for-7 with traffic is the reason the shutout held.

After Singer left, Antone threw 1 2/3 hitless with three strikeouts. P. Johnson inherited the seventh and allowed Tatis's double and France's single. Santillan and Garcia each threw a scoreless inning. Cincinnati's bullpen stopped the bleeding. It could not invent a run.

What's next

Randy Vásquez (10-6, 4.02) faces Nick Lodolo (3-3, 5.24) on Tuesday. San Diego has a wild-card tie and a 4-for-5 night from Machado. Cincinnati has to get a runner home the next time it loads the table.

Machado, King, and the Padres order are on the AthX marketplace if you want the next look at this club.

*Sources: ESPN box score, ESPN recap, MLB Gameday, MLB schedule. Information only; not financial advice.*