Padres Pound Pirates 13-2, Losing Streak At 9
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – The month of August has been anything but kind to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the trend continued Saturday night.
Paul Maholm was charged with seven runs after allowing 10 hits in 6 2-3 innings as the San Diego Padres beat the Pirates 13-2.
Kyle Blanks went 2-for-5 in the game with 5 RBIs, including a grand slam off of Chris Resop in the seventh inning.
The loss was the ninth in a row for Pittsburgh (54-58), who are now nine games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central race. The loss prompted a players-only meeting after the game.
Last in the National League in runs and homers, San Diego set a club record for runs in consecutive games with 28 — they won 15-5 Friday — according to information provided by the Pirates from the Elias Sports Bureau. The Padres hit a grand slam in consecutive games for the first time in 20 years.
Cory Luebke (4-6) struck out a career-high nine and allowed one run over seven innings. He also had two hits and scored a run to help the Padres win their eighth straight game in Pittsburgh.
Orlando Hudson had three hits and scored the game's first run on Blanks' triple in the second. Rob Johnson had three RBIs for San Diego, which had scored a total of 28 runs over its eight previous games before this series.
Garrett Jones gave the home fans something to cheer about with a solo home run to left field in the eighth inning.
With the game out of hand, outfielder Xavier Paul was warming up in the bullpen as Jose Veras worked his way out of trouble in the ninth inning.
The Pirates will look to break the losing streak Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. when the teams close out their three-game series.
Former Padre Kevin Correia (12-9, 4.71 ERA) is scheduled to take on Mat latos (5-11, 3.94 ERA).
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