Padres turn close game into blowout late, as Pirates drop series opener

Aside from a rough abbreviated outing vs. the Yankees in early April, Mitch Keller has enjoyed a largely solid beginning to the season, producing four quality starts in his other five appearances.

Keller, hoping to further distance himself from that lackluster performance against New York, made his seventh start of 2025 on Friday, with the San Diego Padres in town for a three-game series at PNC Park.

In a game delayed 1 hour, 12 minutes by rain and featuring four lead changes before San Diego busted things open late, Keller wasn’t sharp, the Padres managed 14 hits and the Pirates fell 9-4 in front of a crowd of 12,349.

Keller (1-3, 4.38 ERA) lasted five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits while walking one with three strikeouts.

The Pirates (12-21), who fell to a season-worst nine games under .500, rallied to within one run after falling behind 5-2, but the Padres padded their lead in the eighth off reliever Caleb Ferguson, who allowed four hits and three runs.

The Pirates scored first in the third, when Bryan Reynolds drove in Oneil Cruz from second base. Reynolds gave his club a 1-0 lead but was erased at second to end the inning after trying to stretch his hit into extra bases.

Cruz, who walked, stole his 13th base, getting in scoring position for Reynolds.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the lead was short-lived, as Gavin Sheets took Keller deep for a solo homer to lead off the fourth, tying the score.

The Padres (20-11) then went ahead 2-1, courtesy of a Tyler Wade RBI single, which scored Xander Bogaerts, who singled, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout by Jose Iglesias.

In the bottom of the fourth, Joey Bart walked, Ke’Bryan Hayes singled on an infield hit and Adam Frazier was hit by a pitch from Dylan Cease, loading the bases with two outs.

To the plate came Alexander Canario, who entered the game with a .094 batting average.

After falling behind 0-2, Canario worked a walk, picking up an RBI to tie the score 2-2.

But the Padres again struck back quickly, re-taking the lead in the fifth to go up 5-2.

After Oscar Gonzalez, who replaced Fernando Tatis in the third after the latter was plunked in the forearm by Keller, led off with a single, an RBI double by Luis Arraez brought him around to score, putting San Diego up 3-2.

Arraez then scored after Manny Machado singled.

Cruz made an unsuccessful head-first diving attempt on the ball, with Reynolds fielding it and firing it into the infield.

But Reynolds’ throw got by Enmanuel Valdez and bounced to the Pirates dugout, allowing Arraez to score and giving the Padres a 4-2 lead.

The mishap, charged as a throwing error on Reynolds, put Machado on third base with one out.

Then, with the Pirates’ infield playing in, Sheets was able to deposit an RBI base hit out of Frazier’s reach at second base, making the score 5-2 Padres.

In the bottom of the fifth, lefty Wandy Peralta took over for Cease, who allowed two runs on three hits over four innings.

Cruz led off with a walk, and Reynolds singled before pulling off a double steal, which set up Valdez, who trimmed the deficit to 5-3 with an RBI groundout to first base.

Frazier made it 5-4 in the sixth, lifting a pitch from Alek Jacob over the Clemente Wall for his second homer of the year.

In the eighth, after Ferguson took over on the hill, Valdez was involved in another defensive hiccup that led to the Padres plating a run.

With Wade (single) aboard, Jason Heyward grounded up the middle. Jared Triolo fielded the ball but made a low throw to first.

But the throw went under Valdez’s glove at first, allowing Wade to advance to third, with Brandon Lockridge eventually scoring him on a single to center field, making the score 6-4.

Triolo, like Reynolds in the fifth, was charged with a throwing error.

Soon thereafter, a two-run single by Arraez put San Diego up 8-4.

In the ninth, Heyward collected an RBI on a sacrifice fly with Colin Holderman pitching.