MLB GAME RECAP

Pirates stay hot, beat Padres 5-2

The Sports Xchange

July 08, 2015 at 10:11 pm.

 

Gregory Polanco came up big again for the Pirates. (Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)

PITTSBURGH — Gregory Polanco delivered his second winning hit in as many games, driving home Travis Ishikawa from first base with a two-out single off the right-field wall in the eighth inning to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.

A night before, Polanco’s triple with two outs in the eighth inning gave the Pirates a 3-2 win.

Polanco is enjoying his new opportunity to contribute. After a stretch of four consecutive hitless games, the rookie right fielder had been moved down in the batting order, but an injury to the Pirates leadoff hitter Josh Harrison put Polanco back atop the order.

Polanco’s late-inning heroics extended streaks for both teams as Pittsburgh won its fifth straight and San Diego lost its fifth in a row. It was also Pittsburgh’s 22nd come-from-behind win of the season.

Padres starter Andrew Cashner was in control through six innings, allowing just one hit as San Diego clung to a 2-1 lead. But Pittsburgh broke through in the seventh to tie the score after second baseman Neil Walker led off with a double, advanced to third on third baseman Jung Ho Kang’s fly ball and scored on catcher Francisco Cervelli’s groundout.

After Polanco put the Pirates ahead, Pittsburgh added to the lead when center fielder Andrew McCutchen drove home Polanco as he extended his career-high hitting streak to 15 games. Kang followed with a single that scored Walker.

Antonio Bastardo pitched a scoreless ninth for the Pirates for his first save of the year. He preserved the win for Deolis Guerra, a 26-year-old rookie who has not been scored upon since May 25 when he was pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis.

The Padres wasted no time getting on the board. Right fielder Matt Kemp sent Pirates right-hander Charlie Morton’s 1-2 pitch over the center field fence into PNC Park’s shrubbery with two outs in the top of the first inning.

San Diego doubled its lead in the second when left fielder Will Venable walked with one out and scored on center fielder Melvin Upton Jr.’s double to the base of the wall in center.

The Pirates cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second when Kang hit a sharp grounder up the middle that glanced off shortstop Alexi Amarista into short center field that Kang legged into a double. He advanced to third on Cervelli’s grounder to third and scored standing up on a fly to left field by first baseman Pedro Alvarez.

NOTES: Pirates LF Starling Marte was not in the starting lineup for the third straight game. He left Sunday with discomfort in his left side. Sean Rodriguez made his third straight start in left field after starting there just twice in the first 81 games. … The game ended the second leg of a three-city, 10-game trip for the Padres. Coupled with the All-Star break, San Diego will have a 16-game gap between home games. … The Pirates’ win Tuesday night ended San Diego’s domination in Pittsburgh. San Diego had won 14 straight series in Pittsburgh since 2000. That was the third-longest road series winning streak in history and the longest since 1913, when the Pirates won 13 straight against the Boston Braves. … After the rain caused an early exit by San Diego’s Tyson Ross and forced the bullpen to pitch six innings Tuesday, the Padres were looking for a return to form by the pitching staff. The Padres were fourth in the league with 53 quality starts. The Pirates were second with 55.