Nick Castellanos drove in two runs and Jake Cronenworth hit his first homer of the season to lead the San Diego Padres to a 8-2 victory over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
The Padres bounced back from Tuesday’s loss and secured their fourth win in their past five games.
It was more tough luck for Pirates starter Mitch Keller, who tossed six scoreless innings and allowed three hits and one walk while striking out four. Through his first three starts, Keller has a 1.00 ERA and has allowed only two runs in 18 innings but has just one win to show for it.
Justin Lawrence (0-1) took over for Keller in the seventh and things unraveled quickly after Xander Bogaerts reached on a throwing error by Nick Gonzales.
Miguel Andujar, who had two hits, lined a double into the left field corner. Castellanos followed with a double that landed just out of the reach of Jake Mangum in left field and put San Diego ahead 2-0. Two batters later, Cronenworth smacked a 93-mph fastball from Lawrence over the wall in right center to extend the Padres’ lead to 4-0.
After the Pirates cut San Diego’s lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning, the Padres added four more runs in the ninth, capitalizing on a pair of Pittsburgh errors. Luis Campusano and Fernando Tatis Jr. each drove in a run in that frame. Tatis Jr. later scored on a double steal.
San Diego starter Michael King (1-1) pitched six innings and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks. King struck out four and threw 95 pitches. Mason Miller worked a scoreless ninth, but had a streak of 11 consecutive strikeouts snapped when Mangum grounded out to end the game.
Nick Yorke led the Pirates at the plate with three of their six hits and started Pittsburgh’s lone scoring rally in the seventh with a leadoff single. After a Gonzales double, Yorke came around to score on a sacrifice fly from rookie Konnor Griffin off reliever Kyle Hart.
Griffin signed a nine-year contract extension reportedly worth $140 million with the Pirates on Wednesday.
Joey Bart drove in Gonzales on an RBI single, and Pittsburgh threatened for more after Hart walked Mangum and Oneil Cruz hit into a fielder’s choice that left runners at the corners with two outs. But Brandon Lowe flew out to left to end the inning.
