SAN DIEGO — Joe Musgrove was back to being excellent.

Jurickson Profar remained excellent.

And Jake Cronenworth made it matter with a grand slam in the seventh inning that lifted the Padres to a 6-2 victory over the Reds on Wednesday.

The victory was the Padres' second in a row following a losing streak of five games.

It was Cronenworth who secured the Padres' second consecutive — following a five-game losing streak — following a bunt single by Tyler Wade, Profar's fourth single of the game and a walk by Fernando Tatis Jr. by swinging at the first pitch he saw from reliever Fernando Cruz and driving it a projected 389 feet to right field for his fifth home run of the season.

It was Musgrove who provided the big-picture assurance for the Padres.

After entering the game with a 6.94 ERA and more bad starts than good ones, one of the team's most important pitchers turned in by far his finest outing of 2024.

His nine strikeouts were a season high, he did not walk any and spread four hits over six innings.

Almost every starting pitcher to face the Padres in the past week has been excellent. Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft has been so every time he has faced the Padres and was again Wednesday afternoon.

The game was tied 2-2 when both starters departed after six innings.

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