None of that stopped either lineup from having its moments early. Cincinnati stranded runners in scoring position through the first three innings, a missed-opportunity pattern that's dogged this offense in low-scoring stretches, while San Diego's bats stayed patient behind King. The board reflected a game that felt tighter than it would end up.
San Diego had dropped 4 of its last 5 walking into Monday, including the first 3 of a set with Tampa Bay, so a clean win against a sub-.500 team was as much about answering that funk as it was about the standings. Cincinnati, meanwhile, had won its last game and taken 2 of the first 3 from the Cubs, a stretch that made Monday's shutout loss sting more than the typical one against a team in the wild-card hunt.
The injury report tells you why both rosters looked thin in the middle innings. Elly De La Cruz played through a minor quad strain rather than sit, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Michael Toglia are both out of the Reds' infield picture, and San Diego is without Luis Rengifo for the rest of the year after an ACL tear diagnosed this week. Neither team has full siege of its Opening Day roster left.
The fourth inning decided it. Singer was cruising into that frame before getting hit by a comebacker off the bat, and the swelling that followed lined up with San Diego stringing together six straight hits for a 4-run frame. Manny Machado went 4-for-5 with a run driven in during the seventh, and Xavier Bogaerts' 2-run double did the early damage — more than enough support for a King start that needed almost none.