SD 2, PIT 3: Game drizzles, Upton dazzles

You know, the Pirates have a really great ballpark. Nestled right against that Pittsburgh skyline, it's a really beautiful place for baseball. That's why it would be just swell if the weather could stop shoving the schedule of these 7PM EST games around. For the second time in a row, a rain delay struck the Padres-Pirates series. This time, it clipped Tyson Ross' start into only 2 innings of shutout baseball.

Tyson was able to record six outs, giving up only two hits and striking out Andrew McCutchen. The rain rolled in, and after a hearty delay, Ross was pulled and Frank Garces moved in to help finish what he started. Pittsburgh's Francisco Liriano stayed in the game for a full 6 innings, While the collective effort of Garces and Marcos Mateo covered the long-inning relief. The pair did well, only giving up three hits and an earned run a piece. Shawn Kelley inherited a tough situation from Mateo and escaped with 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball. It wasn't until Joaquin Benoit came in that the fatal third run was scored.

One of those Pirates runs, however, was the result of a janky hit from Jung Ho Kang over to Matt Kemp. The ball took a bizzare, almost 45-degree split, and Kemp was unable to adjust quickly enough and a run was scored. Kang reached third, and by the obnoxiously grace of the scoring crew, was awarded a triple. Yeah, okay. But that didn't come before easily the best defensive play of the Padres season, and that's with Will Venable hanging stars out there:

Justin Upton, going vertical and a row and a half into the bleachers to rob McCutchen of a home run harder than San Diego was robbed of its football team. Upton's catch single-handedly kept the Friars in the game after the following tie run was scored, and will definitely be pinned up there as one of the best defensive plays of the season.

Per @ESPNStatsInfo, Justin Upton's HR robbery was the first of his career. It was also Andrew McCutchen's first time being robbed. #Padres

— Friar Figures (@FriarFigures) July 8, 2015

Unfortunately, the defense wasn't enough cushion to provide for the Padres lineup. A two-run Matt Kemp RBI-double earned the only runs of the game for the good guys, his 44th RBI of the season. The team left 13 other Friars on base, 5 of them in scoring position. Derek Norris batting leadoff for the second time went 1-4 with a run and a strikeout, and was left on base twice. Kemp ended the night 2-4, while Will Middlebrooks, Melvin Upton Jr., and Tyson Ross recorded the only other Padres hits. Oh, and Clint Barmes, making his Pittsburgh return, had himself a multi-hit game also.

So the Pads drop the second game of the series in Pittsburgh, effectively losing the series in two very hard-fought, well-pitched games. They'll look towards Andrew Cashner tomorrow to face Charlie Morton head-on. Cashner has only allowed 3 runs in his last 13 innings pitched, while Morton is coming off his second loss of the season after giving up 16 runs in his last three starts.

It was a bit cold and rainy in San Diego, too. But that didn't stop a few fine GLB'rs from showing up to today's game thread.