CINCINNATI (AP) — The Reds honored Pete Rose with a plaque. They couldn’t get him a win to go with it.

Cincinnati managed just four hits in a 3-0 loss to Drew Pomeranz and the San Diego Padres after paying tribute to baseball’s hits king on Saturday.

Pomeranz pitched seven innings. He also hit his second career homer and had an RBI single against left-hander Brandon Finnegan (3-6), making the difference on a day dedicated to baseball’s most prolific hitter.

“He just hit it up in the air,” Finnegan said. “It happens here — if you hit it in the air, it goes. Then he had that nice hit up the middle. He kind of did it all today.”

The Padres have won the first three games of the series, improving to 12-3 against the Reds over the last three seasons.

The Reds inducted Rose into their Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony that included his Big Red Machine teammates. Pomeranz was warming up and sneaking peeks at the festivities, which went six minutes long.

“It’s not anything distracting,” Pomeranz said. “He’s the best hitter of all time. We were all happy to be part of it. It was a pretty cool moment.”

Manager Andy Green was a Reds fan growing up in Kentucky and watched from the dugout as Rose — one of his favorite players — talked about the Big Red Machine. Then his team beat the Reds again.

“It was still an awesome party,” Green said. “I had tears in my eyes out there. It was cool.”

Pomeranz (7-7) gave up three hits, walked one and struck out six, including the last three batters he faced on a humid, 87-degree afternoon. Fernando Rodney retired the side in the ninth for his 17th save in 17 chances.

The Reds have dropped eight of their last 10 games. The Padres scored in each of the first eight innings of a 13-4 win on Friday night.

Travis Jankowski — hitting atop the order while Jon Jay is sidelined with a bruised right forearm — opened the game with a double and came around on groundouts by Wil Myers and Matt Kemp.

Pomeranz beat the Reds in his major league debut in 2011, and had another memorable game against them. He connected with two outs in the fifth for the Padres’ fifth homer in the last two games. He also had a run-scoring single with two out in the seventh.

Brandon Phillips ran the Reds out of a chance in the fourth. He led off with a double and was thrown out while trying to steal third. Jay Bruce followed with a harmless single.

“Brandon has been really good and really effective the past couple of years at stealing third,” manager Bryan Price said. “I just didn’t think he got a good jump there.”

The Padres were appreciative of Phillips’ bad decision.

“A fortunate break for us to get the opportunity to do that,” Green said. “That kind of negated what could have been a rally.”

During the series, the Reds have scored in only two of the 27 innings.

COZART’S STREAK EXTENDED, ENDED

Reds shortstop Zack Cozart got his hitting streak extended to eight games overnight when the official scorer ruled he reached on a single instead of an error by shortstop Alexei Ramirez in Friday’s game. Cozart then went 0 for 4 on Saturday, ending the streak again.

HOLT EJECTED

Cincinnati’s Tyler Holt was called out on strikes as a pinch hitter in the eighth and argued with plate umpire Tom Hallion, drawing an ejection. Price was ejected on Friday night for contesting ball-and-strike calls.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: Jay missed a fifth straight game with the bone bruise. He’ll be examined on Monday in San Diego to see if he needs to go on the disabled list. … Green might go with a six-man rotation temporarily when RHP Andrew Cashner returns from the DL. He’s expected to make a rehab start next week.

Reds: CF Billy Hamilton is 6 for 31 (.193) in eight games since returning from a concussion.

UP NEXT

Padres: Luis Perdomo (2-2, 9.00 ERA) makes his fifth career start Sunday. He got a no-decision in his last outing, giving up six runs in five innings while fanning a career-high eight in San Diego’s 10-7 win over Baltimore on Tuesday.

Reds: Anthony DeScalfani (1-0, 2.30 ERA) makes his fourth start since returning from a strained oblique suffered during spring training. He has thrown two quality starts in three outings.

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Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay

SATURDAY’S GAME

Padres 3, Reds 0

San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Jankowski cf 3 1 1 0 2 1 .250

Myers 1b 3 0 0 0 2 0 .286

Kemp rf 4 0 0 1 0 1 .262

Solarte 3b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .270

1-Amarista pr-2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273

Upton lf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .259

Norris c 3 1 1 0 1 0 .213

Ramirez ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .245

Rosales 2b-3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .192

Pomeranz p 3 1 2 2 0 1 .143

Buchter p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

b-Wallace ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .213

Rodney p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Totals 32 3 5 3 6 10

 

Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Cozart ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .272

Votto 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .243

Phillips 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .257

Bruce rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .280

Duvall lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .255

Suarez 3b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .223

Hamilton cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .257

Cabrera c 3 0 1 0 0 0 .265

Finnegan p 1 0 0 0 1 1 .167

Ohlendorf p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

a-Holt ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .235

Smith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 30 0 4 0 1 10

 

San Diego 100 010 100 = 3 5 0

Cincinnati 000 000 000 = 0 4 1

 

a-struck out for Ohlendorf in the 8th. b-struck out for Buchter in the 9th.

1-ran for Solarte in the 8th.

E—Bruce (4). LOB—San Diego 8, Cincinnati 4. 2B—Jankowski (1), Phillips (15), Cabrera (3). HR—Pomeranz (1), off Finnegan. RBIs—Kemp (53), Pomeranz 2 (3). SB—Jankowski (10), Upton (17), Norris (3). CS—Phillips (6).

Runners left in scoring position—San Diego 3 (Myers, Kemp 2); Cincinnati 1 (Cozart). RISP—San Diego 1 for 8; Cincinnati 0 for 2.

Runners moved up—Myers, Kemp. LIDP—Rosales.

DP—Cincinnati 1 (Bruce, Cabrera).

 

San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Pomeranz W, 7-7 7 3 0 0 1 6 98 2.76

Buchter H, 13 1 1 0 0 0 2 19 1.60

Rodney S, 17-17 1 0 0 0 0 2 13 0.31

 

Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Finnegan L, 3-6 6 2-3 5 3 3 3 8 110 3.83

Ohlendorf 1 1-3 0 0 0 2 1 26 4.24

Smith 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 2.40

 

Inherited runners-scored—Ohlendorf 2-0. IBB—off Ohlendorf (Norris).

Umpires—Home, Tom Hallion; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, Dan Bellino; Third, Toby Basner.

T—2:44. A—40,871 (42,319).