San Diego Padres relief pitcher Wandy Peralta (Left) celebrates with catcher Martin Maldonado during the fourth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park in San Diego on Jun 1, 2025. — Reuters

SAN DIEGO: Manny Machado starred with a homer and a go-ahead sacrifice fly as San Diego Padres came from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 in the Major League Baseball (MLB) game here at Petco Park on Sunday.

The Pirates started the game aggressively, Andrew McCutchen hit a homer with one already on the base, contributing two runs. This was his 240th of the career tying with Roberto Clemente for the third most in franchise history.

Adam Frazier also contributed with a home run in the fourth inning to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. In the process of catching Frazier’s homer, Gavin Sheets got himself injured by slamming his face into the wall and exited the game.

In the sixth, Jackson Merrill hit his second double of the game, driving in Luis Arraez, who had reached on a one-out double, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

The Padres began their rally in the seventh inning against Tanner Rainey, a relief pitcher who ended up on the losing side.

Rainey allowed an RBI single to pinch hitter Eliaz Diaz who came off the bench as a pinch-hitter, he then walked Fernando Tatis Jr. putting runners on all three bases.

Rainey was then replaced by another pitcher, Caleb Ferguson, who allowed Arraez to hit a game-tying single. The Padres took the lead with 5-4 on Machado’s sacrifice fly.

Tyler Wade then hit a weak grounder with the bases still loaded that allowed the Padres to score another to extend their lead to 6-4 in completing a big seventh-inning rally.

Pirates’ starting pitcher Andrew Heaney allowed two runs on five hits and struck out three in five and two third innings he pitched while Rainey permitted four runs on one hit and walked three.

Pirates right-hand pitcher Paul Skenes will start the opener of a three-game series against Houston on Tuesday. At the same time, the Padres had not announced a starter for their next game on Monday in a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.

 

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