Charlie Morton gave up another big inning as the Padres defeated the Pirates 8-2 to take another series at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon.
The big inning came in the fifth with the Pirates leading 2-1 after a Gregory Polanco 2-run home run in the first. With runners on first and second with two out, Morton hit Yangervis Solarte to load the bases. Seth Smith then came up and cleared the bases with a triple off the left field wall to make it 4-2 Padres. He then scored on a wild pitch.
“It was almost like two outings for him,” Hurdle said. “One through three and then four and five, it’s just two different sides of it. It just seemed like the consistency of both pitches wasn’t where it needed to be.”
Jeanmar Gomez and Stolmy Pimentel couldn’t keep the game close as Pimentel gave up a run on a Yonder Alonso sac fly and Gomez allowed a 2-run double to Jedd Gyorko.
The Pirates bats were unable to get anything going against Tyson Ross after the Polanco home run as they recorded only four hits the rest of the way.
His slider played much better. Our first three hits were off sliders up and spinning in the zone,” said Hurdle. “After that his fastball command peaked up. We hit the mistakes early and we weren’t able to get anything after that basically for the rest of the day.”
Final Score: Padres 8, Pirates 2.
With the loss, the Padres clinched their 14th consecutive series victory at PNC Park dating back to 2001 when the ballpark opened.
Starters Lines
Morton (L, 5-11): 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s, 1 WP, 1 HBP. 87 Pitches (56 Strikes).
Ross (W, 11-10): 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER. 2 B, 3 K’s, 2 HBP, 1 HR. 100 Pitches (63 Strikes).
The Pirates will now face the Tigers in a four-game home-and-home series starting tomorrow night at PNC Park.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(LHP) Jeff Locke (PIT): 3-3, 3.78 ERA
(RHP) Justin Verlander (DET): 10-10, 4.57 ERA
First pitch is set for 7:05.
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
