Gregory Polanco homered and Adam Frazier had three hits and two RBIs on Wednesday to help the Pittsburgh Pirates down the visiting San Diego Padres 5-1.
Colin Moran and Erik Gonzalez each added an RBI single for the Pirates, who broke the game open with three runs in the eighth. Pittsburgh won for the fourth time in five games.
Pittsburgh starter Tyler Anderson (1-2) pitched 5 1/3 innings. He allowed one run and four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Tommy Pham had an RBI single for the Padres.
San Diego starter Joe Musgrove (2-1), coming off a no-hitter in his previous start, lasted just four innings. He gave up one run and four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Pittsburgh quickly made sure Musgrove didn’t flirt with another no-hitter. Bryan Reynolds hit a two-out single to left in the first.
With one out in the second, Polanco hit his first homer of the season, to right, for a 1-0 Pirates lead. It was the first run given up this season by Musgrove and ended his scoreless streak at 32 innings.
Musgrove left for a pinch hitter in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth against Padres reliever Pierce Johnson, just off the injured list after recovering from a groin strain, Frazier led off with a double down the line in right. Frazier moved to third on Phillip Evans’ groundout and scored on Moran’s base hit to center for a 2-0 lead.
The Padres cut the deficit in half in the sixth. Manny Machado drew a leadoff walk and went to second on Erik Hosmer’s groundout. That chased Anderson. Pham greeted reliever Duane Underwood Jr. with a single to right to drive in Machado and make it 2-1.
In the eighth against San Diego’s Austin Adams, Polanco drew a one-out walk and went to third on Dustin Fowler’s single. Michael Perez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gonzalez drove in one with a single, and Frazier knocked in two more with a single to make it 5-1.
San Diego has lost two in a row heading into the finale of the four-game series on Thursday.
–Field Level Media