Pittsburgh @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 11, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 5, San Diego 8
The San Diego Padres racked up another win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, they’ll go for the sweep.
San Diego secured an 8-5 victory on Wednesday on the strength of two three-run innings for the team’s eighth consecutive triumph over the Pirates.
The Padres will be looking to keep the winning ways going when the squads meet in the finale of a three-game set on Thursday before they head into a crucial divisional showdown with the San Francisco Giants.
Jerry Hairston Jr. hit a two-run homer and Adrian Gonzalez had four hits and drove in two runs as San Diego’s third straight win has helped the team gain ground in the National League West, where it holds a 2.5 game advantage over San Francisco.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, continues to toil in cellar of the NL Central, due in part to some abysmal play on the road. The Pirates have dropped 30 of their last 34 games away from home, including a recent streak of 17 road setbacks in a row.
After being held down in the opener, Pittsburgh’s offense got going, albeit just too late, on Wednesday. Trailing by seven runs, the Pirates clawed back within 7-5 thanks to Ryan Doumit’s pair of RBIs, before falling short.
Pittsburgh’s bats will try to keep the runs coming against Jon Garland (10-8, 3.55 ERA), who has been strong against the Pirates in his career. In four appearances - three starts - he has posted a 2.84 ERA in allowing just six earned runs in 19.0 innings.
Garland has traded wins and losses over his previous six decisions, despite pitching well in that span. The right-hander is coming off a loss in his last outing after allowing a pair of runs on three hits in seven innings of a hard-luck 2-1 defeat to Arizona.
Garland will be opposed by a pitcher in Zach Duke (5-10, 5.32 ERA) that has enjoyed success of his own against the Padres, but has struggled for most of the 2010 campaign.
Duke, who owns a record of 2-1 with a 3.58 ERA in four career starts versus San Diego, has just two wins against six losses in his past nine starts this year. The left-hander has surrendered a combined nine runs and 17 hits in his last two outings.
Pittsburgh rookie third baseman Pedro Alvarez continues his roll, driving in a run in Wednesday’s setback to give him 11 RBIs over his last seven games.