Robert Suarez came into the game with two outs in the top of the eighth inning looking to get an out with the bases loaded to get the San Diego Padres out of a jam against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park, Friday.
The Padres started the inning holding onto a 3-2 lead. Jason Adam started the inning with two quick outs. He then allowed a double to Andrew McCutchen and back-to-back walks to Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horowitz to load the bases. Suarez came in to face Henry Davis and worked to a full count before a called strike three ended the at-bat and the inning.
Suarez came back out in the top of the ninth and completed the four-out save with two strikeouts and a groundout to secure the 3-2 win for the Padres.
San Diego was trailing Pittsburgh 2-1 to start the bottom of sixth. Fernando Tatis Jr. leadoff the bottom of the sixth with a walk. Luis Arraez doubled down the left field line on a hit-and-run with Tatis scoring from first base to tie the game 2-2.
Jackson Merrill stepped up to the plate and, against drawn in infield, hit a ground ball to second base. Arraez, who was on third after a Manny Machado sacrifice fly, sprinted home and dived head first to the plate. He slid in safely ahead of the throw and tag to give the Padres a 3-2 lead.
Merrill was responsible for the first San Diego run. He hit a ground ball to the right of Pittsburgh shortstop Isaiah Kiner-Falefa. Machado screened him as he ran by and Kiner-Falefa had the ball hit off him and roll into shallow left field. Machado was able to score on the play to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
Nick Pivetta started the game for San Diego and completed six innings allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. Pittsburgh scored both runs against Pivetta in the top of the sixth inning. The Pirates hit four singles in the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Padres play the Pirates, Saturday at 6:40 p.m.