Pirates 5, Padres 4: Friars lose extra innings heartbreaker

The Padres pulled off an incredibly timely comeback this afternoon to force extra innings, but they fell in the twelfth when the Friars couldn’t seal the deal.

The Pads got on top in the first with a bunch of small ball. Manuel Margot drew a walk to start the game, then Cory Spangenberg hit a two-out single to drive him in from second. Wil Myers hit another single to send Spangy to third, and a wild pitch from Jameson Taillon gave Spangy the opening to score.

That lead held til the third, when Clayton Richard had one bad, bad inning. Leadoff man Chris Stewart got to first on an error, and then Starling Marte hit a one-out single. Dusty Coleman recorded the second out, but Andrew McCutchen kept the Pirates’ rally going with a RBI single. Richard came close to ending the inning when he got ahead 1-2 on David Freese. Except he couldn’t finish him, instead beaning him to bring up Jose Osuna, who hit a bases-clearing double.

That’s the way the game stayed until the ninth inning. Hunter Renfroe got on board with a one-out walk, then sexy man Austin Hedges lined a single into center. After Coleman flied out, pinch hitter Hector Sanchez drew a walk to bring Margot to the plate, where he hit a two-run game-tying single.

The game dragged on until the twelfth, when Buddy Baumann took over for the beleaguered Brad Hand, and promptly surrendered a walkoff home run to Sean Rodriguez.

The Friars are on their way to Cincinnati, where they’ll take on the Reds at 4:10 PM tomorrow.