7/24/23- By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on Twitter
The Pirates haven’t won a series in over 3 weeks. In fact, the last series they won was against these San Diego Padres at home, a sweep from June 27-29. After tonight, they have two more shots at securing a series victory as Quinn Priester earned his first win behind some big offense and strong defense.
Hard contact on both sides early but the Friars were first on the board as Ha-Seong Kim, leading off the bottom of the first inning, deposited a 2-1 fastball over the left field fence. Bucs answered back in the first inning. First, with a 1-out blast from Jack Suwinski for his team-leading 21st of the season. And then, a 2-out, full-count shot from Carlos Santana to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
Liover Peguero, after making all three outs defensively in the bottom of the 3rd inning, came back with a 2-out, 2-run line drive home run – the first of his career – boosting the score to a 5-1 tally.
Following a strong defensive play, Santana kept fireworks going in the 5th inning with his 2nd 2-run blast of the night. Peguero added to his RBI total with an infield single, driving in Endy Rodriguez from third; however, Tucupita Marcano, attempting to go first-to-third, stepped awkwardly on third base after being tagged out and was down for a while grabbing his right knee.
Padres battled back as Kim swatted another home run, this time a 2-run shot, cutting the deficit to 8-3. But Priester stopped the rally with two quick outs to end the 5th and secured one out in the 6th before his night was done. Final line: 5.1 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts in 89 pitches (50 strikes). He also made Juan Soto look very silly on this pitch:
Southpaw Ryan Borucki came on in relief and, after getting the 2nd out on a fielders choice, gave up an RBI double to Luis Campusano. He retired the next batter and got the first out in the 7th before he was lifted for righty Carmen Mlodzinski. Mlodzinski finished off the 7th and 8th inning before turning it over to Colin Holderman for the 9th, who shut it down for the 44th win of the season for the Pirates.
News & Notes
- Priester earned his first major league win, becoming the youngest Pirates starting pitcher to earn a win since Gerrit Cole on June 28, 2013.
- For Santana, this was his first multi-home run game since September 19, 2021.
- Marcano came out of the game in the bottom of the 5th with Nick Gonzales replacing him. It was reported in the 8th inning that he was removed due to a “ligamentous injury.”
- Outside of Petco Park, Kim’s two home runs would both be gone at only Wrigley Field.
- Former Pirate Jung Ho Kang was in the stands and made an impressive catch on this foul ball.
- Endy Rodriguez notched his first caught stealing as he nabbed Kim trying to take second in the 7th inning.
- Pirates try to keep the bats hot with game 2 tomorrow night. Rich Hill takes the bump facing MLB ERA leader, Blake Snell. First pitch is at 9:40PM. Let’s Go Bucs!
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