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(Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PNC Park — Morgantown, WV native, Jedd Gyorko has replaced Chase Headley as this year’s Pirate killer as the second basemen (A diehard Pirate fan growing up) went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and two runs scored in a Padres 5 – 2 victory over the Pirates on Tuesday night.
Jeff Locke had a rough outing as he allowed four runs and ten base runners over five innings of work. Three of those runs came in the third inning when Chris Denorfia and Will Venable led-off the inning with singles. Gyorko then came up and hit a three-run shot into the left field seats. They added another in the fourth when Ronny Cedeno singled and scored on a Denorfia double play. Locke struck out five batters while walking three.
“This isn’t any different than any of the other starts, falling behind early, getting into deep counts,” said L:ocke. “Really, to me, what stands out was the three-run homer. That takes a little wind out of the sail early, but no reason not to keep going out there and continuing to attack.”
The Pirates were gifted the only runs they scored on the night when Marlon Byrd sent a fly ball to right field with runners on second and third. Kyle Blanks started over to catch the ball, but tripped and fell letting the ball fall in for a 2 RBI single. They only had one more base runner (Marte) reach second base the rest of the night.
For Marte, it was a decent return as a starter after spending significant time away with an injured hand as he went 1-for-3 (bunt single) with a walk. He also had no problems in his full return to left field.
“I think he let the bat go, he swung at it, he looked for the bunt when it was there,” said Hurdle. “No complaints. I mean, he got after it, so it was a good step for him.”
The Padres would pad their lead in the seventh when Gyorko reached with one out on a bang-bang play at first against reliever, Bryan Morris. He appeared to be out on a pickoff attempt a couple pitches later, but was called safe. He scored two batters later on a Tommy Medica RBI single.
The Bucs would only work a single walk and a HBP in the final four innings against the Padre bullpen to end the game.
“Everybody is aware of where we are, what’s going on in games and we know that we gotta meet the demands of the game. I mean, you keep it simple,” said Hurdle. “At the end of the day, we had a couple opportunities that we didn’t maximize on. We gotta find more consistency in our at-bats. It’s a team effort each and every night and we’ve been good with picking each other up, staying positive and showering it off tonight. Pirates love tomorrow. That’s the way we’ve hung on it all year, so we’re done with tonight. We’ve got to get ready for tomorrow.”
Final Score: Padres 5, Pirates 2
Starters Lines
Locke (L, 10 – 6): 5 IN, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s, 1 WP, 1 HP, 1 HR. 89 Pitches (55 Strikes)
Stults (W, 8 – 14): 5 IN, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s. 89 Pitches (57 Strikes)
The playoff magic number stays at 6 as the Nationals swept their double header to the Braves. The Reds won to get within 1 1/2 of the Pirates and the Cardinals won bringing them a game up on Pittsburgh in the NL Central.
These two will be back in action tomorrow night in the third game of the 4-game set at 7:05.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Charlie Morton (PIT): 7 – 4, 3.54 ERA
(RHP) Tyson Ross (SD): 3 – 8, 3.29 ERA
