Garrett Jones homers twice but Pirates fall to the Padres
The Pirates made another comeback to force extra innings, but this time, their rally fell short against the San Diego Padres in a 7-5 loss.
A.J. Burnett got the start and had his first opportunity to get his 100th victory since the start of the 2005 season. He would have been the 12th pitcher to do so.
Things did not start out well as the Padres scored two runs in the first inning. The Padres were seemingly on the basepaths all night long, and Carlos Quentin delivered a double that would score a pair.
The Pirates would cut the lead in half in the third inning. Andrew McCutchen grounded a ball to shortstop Evereth Cabrera and Rod Barajas was called out at second base, but the throw to first was errant and it allowed Jose Tabata to score.
Despite an injury, Jason Marquis was enjoying a happy birthday. While he took a ball off his left wrist, he stayed in the game and continued to dominate the Pirates through five innings.
In the sixth inning though, things would change.
Garrett Jones was able to break through as he did what Pirates hitters before him had struggled to accomplish; hit a homer in Petco Park.
The inning continued and the Pirates appeared to figure out Marquis leading to a pitching change.
The reliever, Nick Vincent, faced Barajas with two runners on, and the catcher’s double to left gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead.
It did not take long for the Padres to strike back. Each of their first three hitters reached base, and a Wil Venable fielder’s choice which was misplayed by Jones allowed a run to score.
With the bases still loaded, Burnett pulled a Houdini when he struck out Chase Headley and got Quentin to ground into a double play to end the Padres threat.
The Pirates were unable to capitalize offensively as the game entered the bottom of the seventh inning.
In that inning, the Padres had another threat going, and Burnett was taken out and replaced by Tony Watson.
Pinch hitter Chris Denorfia quickly hit a sacrifice fly that allowed the Padres to take a 4-3 lead.
In the eighth inning, Chad Qualls came in to pitch for the Pirates and the Padres added an insurance run as a Quentin sacrifice fly scored Venable who led off the inning with a double.
Closer Dale Thayer came in to close the game for the Padres and faced a 10-pitch battle against Neil Walker that he would win. He appeared to be out of the woods, but Jones hit his second home run of the game and 21st of the season to tie the game up at 5.
Jason Grilli came into pitch the bottom of the ninth inning and with two outs the Padres had an opportunity with runners on second and third. The batter was Cabrera and he hit a ball as deep as you could without it being a homer, but McCutchen was able to make a great running catch up against the wall.
Following a scoreless top of the 10th inning, Daniel McCutchen came in to pitch.
With McKenry now at catcher, it brought back memories of the 19 inning loss to the Atlanta Braves last season.
McCutchen walked the opening batter Venable, and then went 3-0 on Headley. He brought it back to 3-2 but then Headley hit a no-doubt home run that cleared the right-field fence to end the game.
The final game of the series will pit James McDonald (11-5, 3.61) against Andrew Werner. Werner will be making his Major League debut as the Pirates try to avoid being swept by the fourth-place Padres.