SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Every time the staggering Cincinnati Reds showed signs of life, the San Diego Padres knocked them back down.

Ed Sprague's pinch-hit, three-run homer and catcher Wiki Gonzalez's bullet to second base to throw out Barry Larkin on the back end of a ninth-inning double play highlighted San Diego's 8-7 victory Sunday. It was the 11th loss in 12 games for the Reds, who had five solo homers, two by Dante Bichette.

"The thing I liked was the way the club answered when they scored," manager Bruce Bochy said after the Padres finished the three-game sweep. "We came right back when they got in the game. To give up five home runs like that, it's pretty big to win the ballgame."

The Reds had a half-game lead over St. Louis on June 4 but their skid has left them 6½ behind the Cardinals, who lost 6-3 Sunday night at Los Angeles. The Reds have lost a season-high six straight and finished the road trip 1-8.

Last year, when the Reds lost a one-game playoff to the Mets for the NL's wild card, their longest losing streak was just three games.

"It's old hat," manager Jack McKeon said. "You're down before you know it. It's always coming back to playing catch-up."

The Reds fell behind 3-0 in the first because rookie starter Rob Bell had no control, and trailed 4-0 after two innings.

"Right now we are struggling and it seems like nothing is working," Larkin said. "It's the classic situation where when we get pitching, there's no hitting and vice versa. All you can do is to keep battling because if you don't, it will only get worse."

At one point it looked like closer Trevor Hoffman was going to get the day off. But the Reds scored twice in the eighth to close to 8-7 and Hoffman came on to get his 17th save and his third in the series.

"You saw them creeping back the whole day. Even though they were four down, the three bombs in that one inning, they weren't going to go quietly," Hoffman said.

Larkin hit a leadoff single, but was erased trying to steal second on a perfect throw by Gonzalez. Gonzalez held a 3-2 changeup long enough for umpire Jeff Nelson to call Ken Griffey Jr. out, then rifled a throw to shortstop Damian Jackson who tagged Larkin out.

"I was lucky I didn't get hit, it was such a missile," Hoffman said. "It looked like he freeze-framed everything long enough for him to see it, then got off an unbelievable throw."

Larkin wanted to go on the previous pitch, so Gonzalez knew what he had to do.

"I said, 'I'm going to try to catch the ball and let him (Nelson) see it clear, and just throw the ball. I know I've got to make a good throw,"' Gonzalez said.

Bichette reached on a strikeout-wild pitch and was replaced by pinch-runner Chris Stynes, who was erased on Dmitri Young's forceout to end the game.

Padres starter Matt Clement (6-6) struggled in his final two innings, including the fifth, when he allowed solo homers to Pokey Reese, Dante Bichette and Dmitri Young as the Reds pulled to 4-3. Bichette and Young homered on consecutive pitches, with Bichette hitting the 250th of his career, to straightaway center.

It was the sixth time a Padres pitcher allowed three homers in an inning, the first since Dario Veras did it in the eighth inning at Pittsburgh on April 16, 1997.

Sprague gave the Padres a 7-4 lead with his 10th homer, a shot to left off Dennis Reyes.

With two outs in the seventh, Griffey hit his 20th and Bichette followed with his 12th of the season to pull the Reds to 7-5. Both came off Carlos Almanzar.

San Diego's Eric Owens hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh for an 8-5 lead, but the Reds again cut it to one on Aaron Boone's RBI double and pinch-hitter Benito Santiago's RBI groundout in the eighth.

Bell (4-6) got off to a terrible start and never recovered, lasting just two-thirds of an inning and giving up three runs on five walks and one hit. He walked the bases loaded with one out, then threw four straight balls to Gonzalez to force in the first run. Ruben Rivera followed with a two-run single.

No. 8 hitter Damian Jackson was intentionally walked to load the bases and get to Clement, but when Bell started out 2-0, pitching coach Dave Gullett bounded out of the dugout and summoned Manny Aybar from the bullpen. Aybar struck out Clement.

It was the shortest of Bell's 14 starts.

Bret Boone's double in the second made it 4-0.

Clement allowed six hits and three runs in five innings, struck out four and walked three.

Game notes
Larkin was hit in the face by the ball on Al Martin's stolen base in the second when the one-hop throw from catcher Eddie Taubensee bounced off his glove. After being tended to on the field, Larkin stayed in the game. ... Tony Gwynn had his troublesome left knee drained. ... In 13 starts since Denny Neagle beat Minnesota on June 3, Reds starters are 0-10 with a 7.34 ERA.