Pirates Take Wild Opener From Padres 5-4; Starling To Go On DL, Austin Meadows To Report For Duty

Chad Kuhl and Eric Lauer exchanged clean openers; ditto for the second. Chet has four whiffs and Lauer two already. The third was frustrating; a bloop single, walk, bunt and infield single plated a run while leaving Friars on the corners; a force made it 2-0 without a ball being bruised. S-Rod dropped a single into center, just off the CF's mitt; Manny Margot twisted his wrist on the dive but hung in there. Sean was stranded. A leadoff knock in the fourth was erased on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out DP, followed by another hit but nothing further developed. Amore walked with an out; J-Bell singled and Corey D doubled (it was actually a misplayed flare) to bring Cervy home. A Freeser sac fly tied it up and an S-Rod two-bagger gave the Bucs the lead. A wild pitch and walk put Pirates on first and third before Chad's grounder ended the party. Fran jammed a finger on the bases; it was taped up between innings and he's back in action.

Edgar Santana - those wins keep rolling in (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Chad couldn't protect the lead in the fifth. With an out, a double, walk and Eric Hosmer two-base bullet that just missed leaving the yard made it 4-3 Padres, and in came Steven Brault to put a stop to it. Max opened with a bunt single and an out later, a walk to Cervy and a J-Bell single up the middle tied it. Craig Stammen took the ball with two outs to face Freeser; Cory Spangenberg at third made a nice grab to save Stammen's bacon and keep the game tied. With an out in the sixth, a single and double put San Diego in business. The contact play helped the Bucs when Freeser cut down the lead runner at home, and a pop kept it knotted. Sidearm junkballer Adam Kimber answered the bell; new 3B Christian Villanueva climbed the ladder to snare a S-Rod bullet. Steven doubled an out later but Max fanned.

The Padres got a two-out double in the seventh (a ball that Starling tucks away but S-Rod couldn't quite get to) and Edgar Santana was waved in to close it down. Matt Strahm toed the slab; Gregory whacked an opening double off the lefty. Cervy hammered a loud out, but it got Gregory to third. J-Bell wasted his swings, popping out while fishing at will. Corey D bounced to third; this time, the hot corner turned cold and a boot gave the Bucs the lead. Freeser singled him to third. Kirby Yates took the ball and fanned S-Rod. It was Michael Feliz again for the eighth and he sat SD down; Freddy Galvis wasn't pleased with his ring-up (it was a strike) and got himself ejected. Felipe Vazquez strolled in and struck out the side - RTJR.

Steven got the game to the back end (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Good game with a lot of action with the bat and the gloves; even nicer that it went the Bucs way. The first win of a series is always a big one. Chad looks like he's worked himself into a corner; he could easily be bumped by Nick Kingham. And he's aware; he showed his frustration a couple of times tonight. He's a wreck this year, a surprise after the strong finish he had in 2017. It'll be interesting to see how his career turns.

Notes:

• J-Bell and S-Rod each had two hits; Cervy drew two of the three walks issued.
• That didn't take long...Edgar Santana won his first game last night and his second tonight.
• Bucco pitchers struck out 12; Santana was the only one of five guys w/o a whiff, and he only faced one batter who he put away.
• The Pirates announced that Starling is going on the DL and Austin Meadows is getting the call to Pittsburgh for tomorrow's game. Meadows, 23, is hitting .294 with 10 doubles, one home run, 15 RBI, 20 runs scored and eight stolen bases at Indy. 
• Tonight's crowd was 11,404.