The San Diego Padres had a chance to win a tight pitchers duel against Paul Skenes, but they couldn't get it done.
The San Diego Padres couldn’t get it done tonight against Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, as Skenes took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and Pittsburgh finally broke open the tight pitcher’s duel late to win 7-1.
This game featured a marquee pitching matchup between Nick Pivetta and Paul Skenes, and both pitchers were almost literally unhittable into the sixth inning.
Scenes was slightly better as the Padres went hitless through five, but Pivetta was nearly as dominant as he wound up striking out eight Pirates. Pittsburgh nicked him for a pair of runs in a paper-cut rally in the sixth, though, in a paper-cut rally that featured a single by Spencer Horwitz, an infielder hit by rookie Konnor Griffin, and an opposite-field double by Oneil Cruz to put Pittsburgh up 2-0.
If Skenes does have a weakness, it’s his third trip through the lineup, and that gave the Padres the chance to briefly break through. Skenes clearly wasn’t the same pitcher in the sixth, and Fernando Tatis Jr. finally broke through with the Padres first hit as he lined a hanging Skenes sweeper to left for a single.
The Padres got on the board with a solo homer from Xander Bogaerts to cut the Pirates lead in half in the seventh, and that put them in position to mount a rally. But the Padres went down 1-2-3 against Pirates reliever Gregory Soto in the eighth, and after that San Diego fell apart and squandered their last chance chance to come back with some sloppy defense and bad pitching.
The fiasco started when first baseman Gavin Sheets misplayed a bouncing ball into a single, and shortly after that Bogaerts committed his second error of the night at short to load the bases. From there the Pirates just started hitting, and reliever Adrian Morejon got banged around for five runs on five hits, with four of the runs earned as Morejon got just a single out.
That closed out whatever chances the Padres had to win this game, and they went quietly into the ninth. This will go down as a “what might have been" effort as San Diego was well within striking distance when Pivetta was matching Skenes pitch for pitch.
Skenes got the win, and former Padre Ryan O’Hearn was one of three Pirates to post a two-hit night. The Padres will try and come back and take the rubber game tomorrow as they send Michael King to the mound against Mitch Keller of the Pirates on getaway day.