Manny Machado hit his third home run of the season and drove in three runs, Eric Hosmer added two hits and two RBIs and the San Diego Padres jumped on the Pittsburgh Pirates early in an 8-3 win on Thursday.
Machado took Mitch Keller (1-2) deep with a two-run shot down the left-field line during San Diego’s four-run first. Hosmer added a two-run single in the second. as the Padres earned a split of the four-game series to go 5-2 during an eastern swing through Texas and Pittsburgh.
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Chris Paddack (1-1) labored at times but managed to get through five innings and give San Diego’s overtaxed bullpen some semblance of a normal workload after being forced to cover a combined 11 innings in losses Tuesday and Wednesday. Craig Stammen worked three innings to pick up just the sixth save of his 12-year big league career and first since 2019.
Keller dazzled in his previous start against Chicago but returned to the erratic form that’s dogged him most of the spring. San Diego wasted little time getting to him. Trent Grisham led off with a single. Jake Cronenworth followed an RBI double two batters later and Machado took a 90 mph breaking ball over the middle of the plate and sent it to the bleachers in left field to make it 3-0. Hosmer doubled and then raced on a double by Tucupita Marcano.
It got no better for Keller in the second. A double by Jurickson Profar and two walks — all with two out — set up Hosmer, who laced a single to center to make it 6-0.
The 25-year-old Keller, considered to be part of the nucleus the Pirates are attempting to build around, eventually exited after 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs and nine hits with three walks and just one strikeout as his ERA rose to 8.74.
Paddack surrendered an RBI double to Erik González in the second before working himself out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to avoid further damage. Pittsburgh scored twice in the fifth when Marcano — filling in right field for an injured Wil Myers — couldn’t come up with Bryan Reynolds’ sinking line drive. Colin Moran followed with a single but Paddack induced González into a fielder’s choice to end the threat and preserve a five-run lead.
San Diego’s bullpen — which hadn’t allowed more than two runs in any game this season before surrendering four each on both Tuesday and Wednesday — returned to form thanks in large part to the 37-year-old Stammen.
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TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Gave Myers (patellar tendinitis in right knee) a second straight day off. … SS Fernando Tatis Jr. (partial shoulder dislocation) is eligible to come off the injured list on Friday.
Pirates: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (left wrist discomfort) is swinging a bat but has yet to face live pitching. General manager Ben Cherington said Thursday there’s no firm timeline for when Hayes — who is eligible to come off the injured list — will be back but reiterated there are no long-term concerns.
UP NEXT
Padres: Face the rival Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time this season when the reigning World Series champions begin a three-game set at Petco Park on Friday. LHP Ryan Weathers (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will make his first major league start on Friday. The 2018 first-round pick pitched 1 1/3 innings in his major league debut last fall against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NL Division Series.
Pirates: Begin a nine-game trip on Friday in Milwaukee. JT Brubaker (1-0, 1.93) starts in the series opener. Brubaker allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings last Sunday against Chicago to pick up his first win of the season.