Bucs Stumble Against Padres Again 6-2

With an out, the Padres got a walk and back-to-back-to-back two-base knocks off Nick Kingham, the last two grounders scooting just inside third and the first a fly that fell a few inches to the good of the RF line, all better placed than hit. Still, they're all smoked gappers on the scorecard and it was 3-0 before the Bucs grabbed a bat. Clayton Richard had a clean first, surviving by knocking down a Joey O liner through the box unscathed. The Friars got a two-out single and stolen base burt no more points resulted in the second. Corey D had a one-out knock, but was quickly erased by a Freeser DP grounder. It was a clean third; The King has countered his early bad ball luck by fanning five. Jordy singled with one away and was forced out on a bad bunt but no diff; S-Rod was caught looking. Plate ump Ron Kulpa's zone is generous to the pitchers, but not outrageously so, and works the same both ways. So swing, battah, swing...

Nick settled down after a bumpy start (image Positively Pittsburgh)

SD added a single in the fourth before the closing bell. Like last night, Bucco bullets are finding leather instead of grass as Amore and J-Bell both lined out to left. It was six up, six down in the fifth, all retired on grounders. It was 1-2-3 for the Padres in the sixth; the Bucs got a leadoff knock and Fraze GIDP, killing the frame. Tyler Glasnow took the ball in the seventh and with two away, he gave up a double to Richard and an infield knock, but escaped. J-Bell perked up the crowd with a two-out triple, but Corey D left him stranded. In the eighth, Glasnow gave up a two-out dinger to Christian Villanueva to make it 4-0.

Freeser opened with a two-bagger and with one gone, Jordy's third knock of the night  plated him, followed by an Eli single. That brought on Craig Stammen and S-Rod doubled home another run, driving a pretty nice looking slider off the CF wall, that close to knotting the score. The infield was back and Joey O worked the count full but whiffed; Stammen showed him three curves and he couldn't hit any of them. Cervy flew out as the Bucs left some honkin' ducks on the pond. George Kontos answered the bell in the ninth; seems early for Clint to be raising the white flag. A Jordy error, stolen base and misthrow by Eli was followed by a sac fly for one very unearned run. A homer came after that, so it didn't take the Friars long to get those two runs back. Then came another single and steal, but a Hosmer liner to S-Rod at second was quickly flipped to Mercer for a DP to end the frame. Robbie Erlin needed five pitches to put it to bed.

Jordy had three hits (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

The Padres put it together in the first and ninth; the Bucs fell a hit short in the eighth of making it a ball game. Nick had a rough first frame not entirely due to his work and rallied to toss five zeroes afterwards. Bad fortune that the Bucs are seeing a spate of soft-tossing lefties with J-Hay and now Starling on ice (though a rusty Josh is due back tomorrow) as both feast on southpaws, and with the four man bench, there's not a lot of wiggle room for Clint. Well, they missed a series win opp with tonight's loss; hopefully they can manage a split tomorrow behind Trevor Williams.

Notes:

• The Pirates had eight hits - three by Jordy - and only K'ed three times, but no walks and two GIDPs hurt.
• The Bucs only had one runner advance past first until the eighth inning.
• Nick Kingham pitched five frames of scoreless two-hit ball after the first.
• Tonight's attendance was 20,578.