SAN DIEGO — When Cincinnati Reds rookie outfielder Blake Dunn sat in front of his locker in the visitor’s clubhouse at San Diego’s Petco Park, his uniform pants told the story of the previous four-plus hours.
When Dunn watched a fastball down the middle from San Diego Padres starter Lucas Giolito on the first pitch of an eventual 5-3 Reds victory in 11 innings on Tuesday night, those pants were solid gray, matching the color of his No. 59 jersey.
Four hours and three minutes later, at 10:44 p.m. PT, Dunn’s pants were more brown than gray, covered in the Petco Park dirt after six plate appearances that included a walk, a hit, a stolen base and the eventual game-winning run, not to mention a game-saving diving play in right field to end the eighth inning with a runner stranded at third. For the first time in a week — a stretch of five games — Dunn and his teammates could exhale and enjoy a win.
“The last five games we’ve been battling it out up and down, leading sometimes and fighting from behind other times,” Dunn said. “But being able to scratch and claw our way to a win (Tuesday) was huge. It feels like those are the type of wins that help get teams some momentum.”
Momentum can swing both ways, and it has seemed to go against the Reds over the last month. The Reds entered May nine games above .500 and in first place in the National League Central. Yet after going 20-11 over the first month-plus of the season, the team fell to 10-17 in the second full month, dropping all but one of their seven games in June entering Tuesday.
Yet, after their longest game of the season, the Reds were playing music in the clubhouse to celebrate a victory for just the second time this month.
Whatever happens next, Tuesday’s win felt bigger than just one win. It’ll of course count the same statistically. But emotionally, some wins — and some losses — loom larger than others.
Nearly every one of the 26 players on the Reds’ roster had a story to tell from Tuesday’s game, one in which left-hander Nick Lodolo, who is scheduled to start Friday’s series-opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Great American Ball Park, offered his services to manager Terry Francona if needed.
Nathaniel Lowe (31), Brock Burke and the Reds finally had a reason to celebrate Tuesday night in San Diego. (Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
The sheer number of contributions makes telling the story of the win too unwieldy for anything but bullet points:
• Rookie infielder Sal Stewart was the National League Player of the Month for March and April after slashing .281/.373/.570 with nine home runs in the first 31 games of the season. In the 34 games since the start of May entering Tuesday, Stewart was down to .231/.324/.354 with three home runs, none in his previous 15 games.
Yet playing in front of his mentors — Padres third baseman Manny Machado and former Reds and Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso — Stewart unloaded on the first pitch he saw from Padres lefty Yuki Matsui in the 11th inning, a splitter he hit 407 feet to dead center field for his first home run since May 22.
“There was a big swing for the team, for myself. I haven’t been playing up to (my) caliber,” Stewart said. “I’ve been hearing the stuff that I got off to a good start, I’ve been scuffling. I hear it. I’ve always come up here and said the truth. It felt really good to get back to a big swing. Felt really good. Felt really, really good. More importantly, I’m happy that we won and I’m happy that we got back on track.”
• Dunn was on second base as the extra runner in the 11th. With two on and two out in a 2-2 game in the eighth, Dunn made that highlight-reel catch on a broken-bat flare from San Diego’s Jase Bowen to end the threat.
OH MY BLAKE DUNN@BlakeDu1 pic.twitter.com/0gh8SAqK2i
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 10, 2026
• Beleaguered reliever Tony Santillan, who started the season with an 11-game scoreless streak before giving up 17 earned runs in 17 appearances, inherited those runners from lefty Caleb Ferguson.
Santillan went back out for the ninth, deflecting one ball to second baseman Edwin Arroyo for the first out of the inning, then got hit by a comebacker that deflected into the outfield for a single. After waving off athletic trainers and Francona, he gave up a single and was replaced by lefty Sam Moll, who allowed an infield hit to load the bases before striking out Machado and Gavin Sheets to end the threat.
• Eugenio Suárez, who had just one hit in his previous five games and none before coming to the plate to start the 10th, doubled to give the Reds a lead in the first extra frame.
• Tejay Antone, who was on the mound for the three-straight bunts that decided Monday’s loss, gave up a single and a run in the bottom of the inning, but no more. He blew the save, but held on to earn his first victory since June 22, 2021, and just the third in his career.
• Rookie reliever Zach Maxwell, who gave up four runs and recorded just one out in his last appearance on Friday, retired the Padres in order in the bottom of the 11th to earn his first career save.
• Starter Chase Burns recorded his 10th consecutive start of allowing two or fewer runs, striking out seven Padres in 5 1/3 innings before giving way to lefty Brock Burke, who recorded five outs as the first of six Reds relievers.
• All of the team’s position players entered the game, and every reliever aside from Chris Paddack and Zach McCambley appeared.
“(It) sounds kind of masochistic, but it was a fun game to be a part of,” Francona said. “There was so much going on … there was a lot of frustration, we left some runs out there early, but we didn’t pay for it. They kept playing. There was good energy, and I was really excited about that because, man, when you’re kind of getting beat up a little bit, then things don’t go well, they just kept plugging, and that was good to see.”
