Manny Machado just missed a grand slam home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. The ball was caught at the wall by Pittsburgh Pirates centerfielder Oneil Cruz and Elias Diaz tagged up and scored from third base to give the San Diego Padres a 5-4 lead.
Jackson Merrill followed Machado and drew a walk to reload the bases for Tyler Wade. Wade hit a line drive up the middle that struck Pittsburgh pitcher Caleb Ferguson and rolled off the back of the mound. Ferguson could not find the ball, Wade reached safely and Fernando Tatis Jr. came in to score to give San Diego a 6-4 lead en route to a series win.
Jason Adam pitched a scoreless top of the eighth inning and gave way to Padres closer Robert Suarez in the ninth. Suarez struck out two of the three batters he faced to secure the save and the win for San Diego.
Had Machado’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning made it out of the park, it would have been his second home run of the day. Machado started the scoring in the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning that put the Padres in front, 1-0.
Randy Vasquez started the game for San Diego and labored through 3 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeout and three walks.
One of the walks allowed by Vasquez came against Cruz with one out in the third inning. Cruz stole second and Andrew McCutchen followed with a two-run home run to give the Pirates the lead.
Pittsburgh added to its lead with a Ke’Bryan Hayes single later in the inning that allowed Spencer Horwitz to score to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead. The final run of the game for Pittsburgh came off Vasquez in the top of the fourth. Adam Frazier connected on a solo home run to left field to lead off the inning to make the score, 4-1.
Adding insult to injury, Gavin Sheets, who started in left field for San Diego ran into the left field wall attempting to make a play on the home run. Sheets hit his face and head and the rest of his body followed into the wall and he fell onto his back on the warning track. He was evaluated on the field and removed from the game, but was smiling as he walked off.
Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Adrian Morejon, Adam and Suarez were the unsung heroes of the game. The group combined to cover 5 2/3 innings allowing just one hit with one walk and seven strikeouts to allow the Padres an opportunity to come from behind.
San Diego travels to San Francisco to take on the Giants, Monday at 6:45 p.m.