The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Diego Padres 3-2 yesterday to take two of three games in their series. The Bucs scored all of their runs via solo home runs by Bryan Reynolds, Carlos Santana and Ji-Man Choi. Johan Oviedo earned his fourth victory of the year, allowing one run over six innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out five.
David Bednar earned his 20th save of the season in dramatic fashion. He struck out Manny Machado to begin the bottom of the ninth, then loaded the bases with a walk, a single and a hit-batsman. He walked in a run before ending the game with a pop-up out and strikeout.
The Pirates are off today, they begin a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend.
The Pirates are now 4-3 over their last seven games. Thursday’s win gave the Bucs their first series win since late June, when they swept three games from San Diego at PNC Park.
Bench coach Don Kelly earned his first major league win, substituting for manager Derek Shelton, who was suspended for the game. Shelton was docked a game and reliever Angel Perdomo was suspended three games after he hit the Padres Manny Machado in Tuesday’s game.