A bouncer up the middle settles it
Twelve innings. Two runs each through eleven. Then Nick Gonzales hit a ball that barely left the infield grass and it decided everything.
His single up the middle in the top of the 12th scored Jared Triolo, the automatic runner at second, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 overnight. Gonzales did not square it up. He did not need to.
Kirby Yates got the win, and he earned it an inning earlier. San Diego loaded the bases with one out in the 11th and Yates was the man standing in it. He got Jake Cronenworth to pop up a bunt, then walked Manny Machado. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Machado pulled off a double steal. Ty France walked. Bases full, one out, and Yates struck out Jackson Merrill before getting Xander Bogaerts to line out. Jeremiah Estrada took the loss.
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Ashcraft and Ray trade zeros
For five innings nobody scored. Braxton Ashcraft gave Pittsburgh six innings, four hits, one run and two strikeouts. Robbie Ray answered with 5 1/3, five hits, two runs and five strikeouts. Neither pitcher got a decision.
The Pirates had the better early look. Two singles in the third put runners on the corners with nobody out. Ray got a shallow fly ball, a strikeout and a popup, and the inning died there.
Pittsburgh finally cracked it in the sixth. Esmerlyn Valdez led off, turned on a 1-1 fastball off the outside corner and drove it over the wall in left-center for his 15th homer. Bryan Reynolds walked, Oneil Cruz struck out, and Rafael Flores Jr. greeted reliever Bradgley Rodriguez with a double to center that scored Reynolds.
San Diego got one back in the strangest way available. Freddy Fermin doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning and moved to third on a groundout. Ashcraft froze Tatis on a called third strike, then balked with Cronenworth at the plate. Run in.
What it changes
Cronenworth tied it himself in the eighth, a two-out single that scored Dustin Harris, who had doubled to left and reached third on a flyout. That is where the score stayed until Gonzales came up in the 12th.
Yohan Ramirez struck out the side in the bottom half for his second save. Pittsburgh snapped a three-game losing streak. San Diego had won three in a row and now has not.
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