By Zachary McMahon-
The Pittsburgh Pirates concluded the finale of their six-game West Coast trip with a game on Wednesday afternoon against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego as the Pirates were trying to break their nine-game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Padres entered the game winning nine out of their last 10 games and 18 out of the last 21 games.
Andrew McCiutchen and O’Neil Cruz did not play in this game for the Pirates, as they were both taking the day off. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa made his first start sy shortstop since Aug. 7 against the Padres, as he’s made his last six starts at second base. Jared Triolo started at second for the Bucs
Mitch Keller tossed five innings, allowing eight hits and eight earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. Martin Perez started against the Pirates for the first time since he was traded from Pittsburgh on July 30. He went 5 ⅓ innings, allowing five hits, one earned run, a walk, and eight strikeouts as he registered his first win as a Padre. Perez has never lost a start against a former team of his, since 2019 when he faced the Texas Rangers as a member of the Minnesota Twins.
The Padres got things going when they had hits for the first two batters until Jake Cronenworth hit a three-run home run. In fact the Padres went off for eight runs in the first three innings which included a two-run triple by Jackson Merrill and a two-run home run by David Peralta on his 37th birthday.
Despite this, Keller stayed until after the fifth inning, which was when Ryder Ryan came in relief to pitch the sixth. Ryan made his first appearance since July 10, in which he was sent down to Triple-A Indianapolis, in which he was also designated for assignment on July 30 before having his contract selected on Aug. 12.
Joey Bart hit a solo homer in the sixth and Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit an RBI single in the ninth for their only runs of the game, as the Bucs got crushed 9-2 by the bats of the Padres. Bart extended his on-base streak to 13 games, which is the longest current streak on the Pirates, and second longest this season behind Bryan Reynolds 25 games in the month of June.
Luis Arraez went 2-for-4 with a single and double, as he has hit safely in 19 out of his last 22 games. Xander Bogaerts had a 14 game hitting streak against the Pirates, which surpasses Anthony Rendon for the longest active streak, but he went 0-for-4 with a ground out, a fly out, a line out, and a pop out, and snaps his 10-game on-base streak which was his longest streak of the 2024 season. Cronenworth’s home run extended his hitting streak to six games, which is the longest since his seven-game hitting streak from July 3-12.
The Pirates will travel back to Pittsburgh to face off against another West Coast team in the Seattle Mariners for a three-game weekend series starting on Friday at 6:40 pm on Apple TV+. It will be Paul Skenes going up against Logan Gilbert.
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