Losing Streak Continues, Pirates Blown Out By Padres Again

By Chad Carlson

Photo Credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

For the second straight night, the San Diego Padres transformed from one of the least powerful offensive teams in baseball to a run-scoring juggernaut, as they once dismantled our Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a packed house at PNC Park.  After scoring 15 runs in the first game of the series, the Padres continued their offensive onslaught on Pirates’ pitching with a 13-2 rout of our Buccos.

Paul Maholm was the latest Pirates’ starter to get lit up, surrendering seven runs on 10 hits through his 6.2 innings of work.  His ERA continues to rise with tonight’s performance, inflating to 3.54.

San Diego took the lead in the second inning on Kyle Blanks’ RBI triple and Rob Johnson’s sacrifice fly, and they never looked back. 

After scoring three more runs in fourth inning, the Padres broke the game wide open in the seventh inning, hammering out six runs on the Buccos, including a grand slam by Blanks off Chris Resop.  After giving up the four runs on three hits, Resop was pulled by Clint Hurdle.  His ERA now sits at 4.09.  Joe Beimel was tagged for two runs on three hits, while Jose Veras pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

The offense didn’t bring many cheers tonight either for Pittsburgh.  Neil Walker was the only Pirate to tally a multi-hit game, including an RBI-single in the fourth inning.  The Buccos’ only other run came on a solo homerun from Garrett Jones in the eighth inning. 

Cory Luebke earned the victory for San Diego, giving up just one run on five hits through seven innings.  The win was his fourth of the season, and he lowered his ERA to 3.06.

Tonight’s game was absolutely horrible for any Pittsburgh fan.  Once again, our starter was unable to deliver a quality performance.  The bullpen continued their recent streak of dismal pitching, and the offense seems almost completely incapable to producing runs.  The lineup tonight was a bit unorthodox, with Matt Diaz, Brandon Wood, and Steve Pearce all getting starts.  Ronny Cedeno should be benched for the rest of the season following his disgustingly pathetic performance, committing two errors and looking as uncomfortable at the plate as…well…Pedro Alvarez.

The PNC Park atmosphere, both on the field and in the stands, was very reminiscent of 2010.  The team got behind early, showed no signs of potentially mounting a comeback, and in return, the crowd was lost became more interested in their own conversations, including a few meager “Bob Walk” chants. 

Typically, this would be the type of game that we would say the team should just forget about and move on to tomorrow.  But unfortunately, tonight’s game hasn’t been a rarity in the past week.  The Padres, who came in with the worst offense (statistically) in the National League, have tagged Pirates’ pitching for 28 runs in the first pair of games. 

Kevin Correia will take the mound for Pittsburgh, who will be trying to end their current nine-game losing streak, while also attempting to avoid a winless home stand, their second straight series sweep, and their third consecutive loss.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:35pm.

Record Vs. Padres: 2-3

Record Vs. N.L. West: 9-12

Record At Home: 26-31

Overall Record: 54-58

And…

As Always…

Let’s Go Bucs!