Pedro Alvarez’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth brought home Andrew McCutchen as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Diego Padres 2-1 in walk-off fashion.
The Pittsburgh Pirates entered Monday night having lost its past 14 series to the San Diego Padres.
“I just tried to compete,” Alvarez said. “I was just trying to see a pitch up and put hard contact on it.”
In this game, the Padres struck first in the second inning. Yonder Alonso had a one-out walk and a Jedd Gyorko single advanced him to second base. Will Venable’s walk loaded to the base and Alexi Amarista’s fly ball was deep enough to score Alonso. Padres pitcher James Shields grounded out to end the threat.
A key sequence for the Pirates occurred in the top of the seventh inning. With Gyorko and Alonso on first and third, Venable came up to the plate. Venable proceeded to hit a ground ball right at Neil Walker. With Walker holding the ball in the base path, Gyorko stopped running in between first and second base. Walker threw to Alvarez at first to retire Venable and catch Gyorko in a rundown. Alvarez then threw to Jordy Mercer, who had covered second. Alonso broke for home from third base. Mercer then sprinted across the diamond towards Alonso who decided to go back to third. Mercer threw to Jung Ho Kang who applied the tag to complete the double play and get the Pirates out of the inning.
“We practice it a lot in Spring Training,” said Mercer of the play. “You’ve just have to slow yourself down because as much as you want to get the guy out on first you kind of have to keep your head on a swivel and know that he’s going to creep and waiting for you to pick a spot to go home. I looked over and saw he was far enough and I went for it. You’ve just got to time it as long as I could, shortened up the distance and made a bang-bang play.”
“He handled it just as you would want a guy to handle it,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He didn’t give anything up, he cut the angle of, he got the guy going back so the out wasn’t made at home plate where any mistake could cost you.”
In the bottom half of the inning, McCutchen recorded a one-out double off Shields. This gave him a 13-game hitting streak, tying a career-best. Two batters later, Francisco Cervelli was hit by a pitch. With both runners off on a 3-2 pitch to Alvarez, a hard-hit grounder found the glove of a diving Yangervis Solante, but he rushed his throw and missed first base. His error allowed McCutchen to score and tie the game.
After striking out Amarista and picking Melvin Upton off at first base, A.J. Burnett thought he was out of the eighth inning when Derek Norris swung and missed at strike three. Instead, home plate umpire Paul Emmel ruled it was foul tip. Burnett and Hurdle both would plead their cases to no avail.
“A wasted fist pump,” Burnett said.
Norris then singled to right field and advanced to third when the next batter, Solante, did the same. That ended the night for Burnett as Tony Watson came in from the bullpen to strike out Matt Kemp and end the threat.
Burnett pitched 7.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits. His 111 pitches tied a season high set April 14 against the Detroit Tigers.
“He finds ways to do different things based on what he’s got when he goes out there,” said Hurdle. “He’s a pro he’s got a good feel for himself and an honest evaluation of pitches that are working and how to adjust when something isn’t.”
Jared Hughes pitched a scoreless ninth inning to collect his second win and improve to 2-1 on the season.
With Brandon Maurer pitching for the Padres in the ninth inning, McCutchen walked and Kang’s single placed him in scoring position. Cervelli’s deep fly ball then advanced McCutchen an extra 90 feet. Alvarez then singled in McCutchen. Maurer took the loss to fall to 5-2 on the season.
“This man continues to work [Alvarez] and continues to do something to get better every day in some area,” Hurdle said. “He’s been on a nice little run here for an extended period of time.”
The series continues Tuesday when Francisco Liriano [5-6 2.99 ERA] faces Tyson Ross [5-7 3.63 ERA]. Liriano is 1-2 with a 1.97 ERA in five career starts against the Padres.
Photo credit: @Pirates
