CINCINNATI -- Still feeling the effects of blowing a five-run lead in Saturday's loss, the Cincinnati Reds handed the ball to ace Johnny Cueto for Sunday's series finale against the San Diego Padres. He knew what to do with it.

"My goal today was the stop what had happened the past few days," Cueto said.

Jay Bruce homered twice and Cueto allowed three hits through seven innings, lifting Cincinnati to a 4-0 victory over the Padres at Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati (24-31) snapped San Diego's four-game winning streak, defeating the Padres for just the second time in the past nine meetings dating to last season. The Padres managed just four hits on Sunday.

Cueto (4-4) retired 13 of 14 batters after right fielder Matt Kemp's double in the third. He walked two and fanned nine.

"Johnny came out and played stopper," Bruce said. "He's a true ace. When you need games like today, he gives it to you."

It's not unusual for Cueto to get off to a slow start in his outings. He did just that on Sunday, allowing three hits and issuing a pair of walks in the first three innings.

But the Padres couldn't take advantage as Cueto allowed just one hit over his next four innings, striking out six.

"I didn't really make any adjustments," Cueto said. "Maybe I was a little more aggressive. But I was just myself."

It was Cueto's first win since May 9. He had one loss and was the victim of two blown saves in his previous three starts.

"It was typical Johnny Cueto," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Good fastball command, throwing strikes with elevation and velocity, cutters in and out, just good stuff in the hitting area. It was tough to square off of him. He didn't totally handcuff us, but we weren't able to hit a lot of balls hard. He's a veteran pitcher who knows how to work out of trouble."

Bruce put Cincinnati ahead in the second inning with a solo home run off Padres right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne.

Despaigne (3-4) allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings. He had given up just four home runs in 12 appearances prior to Bruce's pair Sunday.

"He threw the ball fine," Black said. "He was victimized by a big-time power hitter who hit balls at the top of the zone or that might have been balls."

Bruce's eighth home run of the season and first since May 17 traveled 438 feet, making the score 1-0.

Despaigne doubled leading off the fifth but was left stranded. It was the right-hander's second hit of the season, first for extra-bases.

The Reds handed their ace some insurance runs in the sixth.

After first baseman Joey Votto singled and third baseman Todd Frazier doubled leading off the inning, Bruce launched another 0-1 pitch from Despaigne and barely cleared the right-field wall, making the score 4-0.

"Just enough," Bruce said of his second homer which marked his 16th career multi-home run game.

Cueto threw 103 pitches on Sunday en route to his fourth victory in his past five decisions against San Diego.

"He threw beautifully," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "It was a great start, and much-needed."

San Diego (29-29) scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings in Saturday's win, but there was no stirring comeback against Cueto or the Reds' bullpen on Sunday.

Right-hander J.J. Hoover and closer Aroldis Chapman pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings to close out the victory for Cincinnati.

"Those were very important innings for us, for obvious reasons," Price said. "We never let them think about getting back in the game."

NOTES: Following Sunday's game, the Padres optioned OF Abraham Almonte to Triple-A El Paso and reinstated OF Melvin Upton Jr. from the disabled list. ... San Diego suffered its 10th shutout loss of the season on Sunday. ... The Reds optioned RHP Jumbo Diaz to Triple-A Lo