Red-hot Padres rally in 9th to sweep Pirates, win 5th straight
Luis Arráez hit an RBI double to cap a three-run ninth inning that put the San Diego Padres ahead for a 7-6 win and series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon.
With San Diego down 5-4, Pirates closer David Bednar (3-4) gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts and walked Jackson Merrill to start the ninth inning before striking out David Peralta and walking Ha-Seong Kim to load the bases. Bogaerts scored on a grounder from Kyle Higashioka before Oneil Cruz tossed a double play attempt past first, letting Merrill score the go-ahead run.
Bednar, who gave up a tying home run to Merrill in the ninth inning of a 9-8 loss that went 10 innings on Wednesday, was pulled after Arráez tacked on what became the winning run with a double to right.
"That's just unacceptable," Bednar said. "The guys battle back both games, and it's just a big-time letdown on my end. Today was incredibly frustrating, just a lot of free stuff, and that just can't happen."
San Diego has won five straight and 14 of 16 to move within 2 1/2 games of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead.
"Great squad strikes again," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "Hunger for competition, hunger for winning games. Can't say enough about it. ... We take everything and give nothing away. That's what pure competition is about. Just looking to do that as consistently as possible."
Jason Adam (6-2) gave up a lead-off single before retiring the next three in the eighth inning.
Robert Suarez was tagged by a two-out double from Joey Bart in the ninth ahead of an RBI single from Rowdy Tellez. Suarez then struck out Bryan De La Cruz on three pitches for his 25th save.
The Pirates have lost four in a row and six of seven. They led in five of the six losses and finished this homestand 1-5 against the Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"It's extremely frustrating," Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. "Not to beat a dead horse, but we've got to figure out a way to finish them because we have the lead and we have to be able to execute to finish games out."
Down 4-0, the Pirates scored three runs in the sixth inning.
Cruz opened the scoring with an RBI single to the right-center gap but was thrown out at second. Tellez and De La Cruz then hit two-out singles off Randy Vásquez to put runners on the corners. Carl Edwards Jr. entered, threw a wild pitch that brought in Tellez and allowed an RBI single to Ji Hwan Bae.
After Cruz's third single of the day, Bart sent a 3-2 fastball from Yuki Matsui 419 feet to left-center for his ninth homer of the season for a 5-4 lead in the seventh.
"Just had to get to the end," Shildt said. "Vásquez was really good, man. He was cruising. Then they started to put some good swings on him, started to get some good contact. But he more than did his job to help the bullpen and give us a chance to do what we did and that was win a ballgame."
Manny Machado and Peralta each hit a two-run home run off Luis Ortiz in the first two innings for the Padres. Ortiz allowed four runs and four hits in six innings.
Vásquez gave up three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
"It was super important," Vásquez said. "Really important for me, especially as a starter. That's my job, right? To go out there and eat as many innings as possible."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Pirates: RHP Colin Holderman was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right wrist sprain. He has allowed 11 runs in 4 1/3 innings over his past five appearances, including three runs in the 10th inning Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Padres: LHP Martín Pérez (2-5, 4.96 ERA) is in line to start the first of a three-game series in Miami on Friday, opposite Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera (2-3, 5.96).
Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.20) will take the mound Friday to begin a three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. RHP Jack Flaherty (8-5, 2.80) is expected to go for the Dodgers.
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