Padres 3, Pirates 2: Friars fire back

After a tough loss last night, Eric Hosmer and Tyson Ross led the Padres to a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight. Hos was especially impressive, going two for three with a pair of doubles and a walk. Ross held the Bucs to two runs over six innings, and his bullpen followed up with three scoreless frames.

Tyson’s day didn’t start as well as it ended. He walked the first two batters he faced, prompting Andy Green to use a mound visit before a single out had been recorded. But Corey Dickerson did him a favor and grounded into a double play to erase one of the runners. But Josh Bell wasn’t so charitable, as he brought Adam Frazier home with an RBI double.

Another walk to Frazier in the third turned into the second Pittsburgh run of the night. This free pass came with one out, and Gregory Polanco grounded to first for the second out. But that put Frazier on second, and Dickerson wasn’t so generous this time around. He singled to left to put the Pirates up 2-0.

But that was it for the home team’s offense, and the Padres came to the plate in the fourth with some fight. Travis Jankowski started things off with a leadoff single and took away a double play opportunity by swiping second. With one out, Hosmer hit his first double of the night to cut the deficit in half. Franchy Cordero should have grounded out after that, but Ivan Nova missed the throw from his first baseman, putting runners at the corners for Raffy Lopez, who hit an RBI ground out to tie the game at two.

With two outs in the top of the sixth, it was starting to look like Tyson might be leaving the game with a no decision. But Hosmer ripped his league-leading 16th double of the year into left field, and Franchy brought him home with a single in the same direction. That was the last run of the evening, and all the Friars would need to even up the series heading into the weekend.

Fresh off one of his best starts ever, Clayton Richard will take the mound for game three of this series. He’ll be facing rookie starter Nick Kingham, who will take the mound at 4:05 PM.