The Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off their west coast road trip with a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
Jose Quintana started for Pittsburgh and continued his impressive start to this 2022 season, giving up two runs, none of them earned, on four hits in 5.1 innings. It was a no-decision for the Bucs’ left-hander, but he lowered his ERA to just 2.15 on the season. Certainly no one could have expected this performance so far from Quintana.
His mound opponent, Sean Manaea, lasted seven innings, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks. Nabil Crismatt earned the victory for San Diego, while Taylor Rogers tallied his 17th save of the season.
The Pirates jumped out to an early lead when Bryan Reynolds hit his sixth homerun of the season, a solo shot to left field, in the first inning. They added two more runs in the fourth inning on a two run double by Diego Castillo, scoring Ben Gamel and Josh VanMeter to make it 3-0.
San Diego got on the board, and tied the game, in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two runners on, Luke Voit crushed a three run homerun to left center field. It was his third homer of the season, scoring Jurickson Profar and Eric Hosmer to tie the game.
The game-winning hit for the Padres came off the bat of Wil Myers in the eighth inning. His single to center field scored Manny Machado to make it a 4-3 advantage. Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth, shutting down the Bucs’ bats to secure the victory.
This was obviously not the way the Pirates wanted to start their road trip. Not only did they lose this game, but they had a nice 3-0 lead more than halfway through the game and ended up losing. From the Padres’ perspective, this is what good teams do. They find ways to win games. San Diego is certainly one of the better teams in the league, and the Bucs will need to fight and claw their way if they still want to have a chance of winning this weekend series.
JT Brubaker will take the mound for Pittsburgh on Saturday night when the two teams’ take the field for the second game of this series. His mound opponent will be a familiar face for Pirates’ fans, as Joe Musgrove will be on the bump, sporting his 5-0 record and 1.90 ERA.
Record vs. Padres: 1-3
Record vs. N.L. West: 5-5
Record on the Road: 7-12
Overall Record: 18-26
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
