Last night was an ideal example of a dream night for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before their game in San Diego started, the Pirates already witnessed the Reds fall victim to the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals were on the cusp of losing to the Brewers. All the Buccos needed to do was take care of business at Petco Park to extend their division lead, and that they did.
Pedro Alvarez, Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison each produced run scoring triples to propel the Pirates to an 8-1 drubbing of the Padres. The feat marked the third time this season the Pirates have recorded three triples in a game.
But if wasn’t only the offense that was shining bright Tuesday night. After having back-to-back shaky starts where he was unable to hold a lead, A.J. Burnett bounced back to his old form, twirling seven innings of one run ball.
The Pirates wasted no time jumping on San Diego starter, Tyson Ross. Two batters into the game, Neil Walker made pitcher-friendly Petco Park look like a launching pad. On a 3-1 count, Walker took Ross’ offering and deposited it over the centerfield wall. The home run was the eighth of the year for Walker.
Pittsburgh tacked on another run in the inning, taking advantage of a Padre error. With two outs, Alvarez grounded into the shift at second base, but an errant throw by former West Virginia second basemen and Morgantown native, Jedd Gyorko, allowed Alvarez to reach base. The error proved to be costly one batter later when Russell Martin laced a double to right field, scoring Alvarez from first.
Walker and Alvarez were at it again in the third inning. After Walker led off the inning with a hit by pitch, Alvarez – who has been in the mood to hustle around the bases the last couple of games – brought home Walker on a triple to left field to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
Burnett’s lone hiccup in the game came in bottom of the fourth when he gave up a home run to Gyorko. But that was a blimp in the radar of an otherwise outstanding performance.
With a slim two run advantage late in the game, the Pirates gave themselves some breathing room and more. In the top of the seventh, Pittsburgh scored five runs, all coming on two swings.
First McCutchen showed off his wheels, delivering a two-run triple scoring Burnett and Walker. Then with the bases loaded and Harrison pinch-hitting for Garrett Jones, he put any thoughts of a comeback by the Padres to rest with a bases clearing triple on an 0-2 pitch.
Burnett picked up his sixth win of the season with his seven strong innings and struck out seven. Vin Mazzaro and Jared Hughes came on to pitch a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, respectively.
For the Padres, Ross took his record to 3-6 after going 6.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and struck out six.
Walker led the offense, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.
The Pirates are looking for the sweep of the Padres tonight when they send Gerrit Cole (6-5, 3.88 ERA) to the mound. Ian Kennedy (4-9, 5.12) will be making his second start in a Padres’ uniform after coming over from the Diamondbacks at the trade deadline. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m.
Game Notes: Starling Marte was a scratch for the second game in a row due to a hand injury…Pirates have a chance to sweep the Padres after being swept by San Diego in both series last year…Pirates are now two games ahead of St. Louis and 3 ½ games ahead of Cincinnati in the NL Central.
