Die Macht » Carolina as Holiday rejoined his teammates and coaches

SAN DIEGO -- Brandon Finnegan made some adjustments after his last start. The changes worked against the San Diego Padres.Finnegan incorporated a changeup into his repertoire and pitched six scoreless innings as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Padres 6-0 on Friday night.I was just throwing a fastball and slider and its not too hard to hit that -- a starter throwing two pitches, Finnegan said. It got to the point where I was cutting (the changeup) and it was like a second slider.We fiddled around with it and in my last bullpen it was nothing but fastballs and changeups. We changed the grip and I was able to command it.Eugenio Suarez tied a career-high with four RBI to back Finnegan and two Reds relievers. Suarez had a run-scoring double and single to pace the Reds to their third victory in four games as the Padres were blanked for 12th time this season, tops in the majors.Michael Lorenzen and Blake Wood worked the final three innings to preserve the shutout.Reds manager Bryan Price had no qualms about pulling Finnegan.It was six innings, 90 pitches and it was a feel-good game, Price said of Finnegans outing. And our bullpen was rested.San Diego, which grounded into four double plays, also had its 25-game home run streak snapped that tied the National League record set by the 1998 Braves.Im glad we ended it, Finnegan said.Finnegan (6-8) scattered four hits and sidestepped a few early jams before settling in. He walked three, but he struck out five in recording his third win in his last four decisions.San Diegos Edwin Jackson (1-1) gave up six runs and 10 hits in five innings. The Reds struck fast, nicking Jackson for four runs in the first inning.Essentially the first inning came down to execution of a couple of pitches, Jackson said. You take away a couple of pitches out of the first inning, its a whole different ballgame.Zack Cozarts one-out double started the rally. Rookie left fielder Alex Dickerson, who had homered in four straight games, collided with centerfielder Travis Jankowski on Cozarts drive into left-center and was forced to leave the game with a right hip contusion.The roughly 10-minute delay to attend to Dickerson wasnt used as an alibi by Jackson.Its easy to make excuses, Jackson said. At the end of the day its all about execution. I left a couple of balls over the plate when I had chances to put people away, and I paid for it.Padres manager Andy Green agreed.I thought the first inning he was over the middle of the plate, a little more than he cared to be, Green said. The next three innings he sailed pretty cleanly.Cozart scored on Jay Bruces sacrifice fly. Phillips followed with an RBI single and Suarez chased in two more with a double to left-center for a 4-0 advantage.In Jacksons final inning, the Reds tacked on two runs for a 6-0 advantage. Suarez notched a two-RBI single that scored Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, both aboard via hits.The Padres had a chance to cut into their 4-0 deficit in the second inning when loading the bases with two outs. But Derek Norris lined out to Suarez at third to end the threat.It was among the fine defensive plays the Reds turned in behind Finnegan.A couple of innings the outs came easy and in the other ones they didnt, Price said. The double-play ball was what bailed him out and some of those were well-hit balls. But he was able to stay away from the big inning and he didnt allow the Padres to get back into the game.Not with Finnegans improved changeup back on track.We messed around with it and the one Im throwing now is working, he said. Hopefully we can keep it that way.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Homer Bailey (right elbow) will exit the disabled list and start on Sunday against the Padres.Padres: RHP Tyson Ross (right shoulder, left ankle) continues to play catch, but theres no timetable for him to resume throwing from the mound.UP NEXTReds: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (6-0, 3.09) looks to win his fourth start of the second half when facing the Padres for the second time this season. He threw a career-high eight innings and allowed but five hits when beating San Diego on June 26.Padres: LHP Christian Friedrich (4-6, 5.00) has quickly become one of the rotations senior members after a flurry of trades. Friedrich is trying to rebound from a rocky outing in which he was charged with five runs and six hits against the Nationals on Sunday. Ray Nitschke Super Bowl Jersey . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. Corey Linsley Super Bowl Jersey . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. https://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Adrian-Amos-Jersey/ .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Jace Sternberger Super Bowl Jersey .Y. -- Leading 3-0 with only 11:25 left, the Colorado Avalanche committed a seemingly meaningless penalty to give the New York Islanders a power play. Josh Jackson Super Bowl Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. NEW ORLEANS -- The Portland Trail Blazers are not faring well against teams with winning records so far this season.That wont be an issue when they face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night in the Smoothie King Center.The Blazers are 7-6 overall, but just 1-5 against teams with winning records after a 126-109 defeat against the Rockets (7-5) on Thursday night in Houston.The Pelicans (2-10) have the worst record in the NBA.Its still early, Portland All-Star point guard Damian Lillard told the Oregonian. I think weve got a lot of time to shore up things we havent done well so far. Im not happy with some of the things that have happened, but were in a good spot.Portlands only victory against a team that has a winning record came on opening night against a short-handed Utah Jazz team that was missing injured starters Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors.In their five other games against winning opponents, the Blazers lost to the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers (twice), the Chicago Bulls and the Rockets by an average of 20.8 points.Im just happy that we can say that were learning through a lot of things right now, Lillard said. Were not doing well, but (were) still finding ways to win games.That hasnt been the case for New Orleans, but help is on the way.Starting point guard Jrue Holiday is expected to make his season debut against Portland. Holiday had been away from the team to be with his wife, Lauren, who last month gave birth to the couples first child, daughter Jrue, and recently underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor.Lauren Holiday is a former U.S. womens natiional team soccer star.ddddddddddddother and daughter are doing well and stayed at home in North Carolina as Holiday rejoined his teammates and coaches, who were very supportive during his absence.Anything we needed, they were there for us, Holiday said Thursday. It was unbelievable. Im so excited. Going through a hard time, my teammates were always there for me. My teammates and the Pelicans were always there. To come back and fight for them, like they supported me, Im happy to do it.The Pelicans are happy to have their point guard back, and they are looking forward to other happy returns.It will probably take (Holiday) a couple games to get back (to form), All-Star forward Anthony Davis told the teams official website, but as long as hes on the floor.New Orleans hopes to have Davis back on the floor after he sat out an 89-82 loss at Orlando on Wednesday because of a bruised right quad. Davis practiced Thursday and is listed as questionable for the game against the Blazers.Terrence Jones started in Davis place against the Magic and scored a career-high 26 points. He also fell one rebound short of his second consecutive double-double.We tried to make sure we still had that flow as if the best big in the league was still playing with us, Jones told the teams official website. Without him, its very tough to keep that normal flow of offense.Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans returned to practice earlier this week and could return soon from offseason knee surgery. ' ' '