PITTSBURGH _ The Pirates couldn't solve Dinelson Lamet the second time around either. The San Diego Padres rookie right-hander waited out a half-hour rain delay before Saturday's game at PNC Park and then tossed 52/3 innings of one-hit baseball in a 5-2 win. Lamet stymied the Pittsburgh lineup twice in eight days, winning twice and allowing three hits and two runs over two starts.
Lamet (6-4) threw zeroes, walking three and striking out five, and the offense backed him. Wil Myers reached base four times _ on a hit by pitch, a walk, an RBI double and a two-run home run. Dusty Coleman, the light-hitting San Diego shortstop, provided cushion by smacking a two-run shot to straightaway center field off reliever Daniel Hudson in the eighth inning.
The Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals all won Saturday. With 51 games remaining in the regular season, the Pirates (53-57) are 5{ games out of first place.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole was charged with three runs in six innings, surrendering eight hits, two walks and a hit batter. He was steady, striking out seven, but not as crisp as Lamet. Cole, who has been in fine form for the past two months, allowed more than two earned runs for just the second time in his past 10 starts. After 23 starts this season, his ERA is 4.00.
The Padres settled for a large share of soft contact against Cole but refused to be easy outs. After two were away in the first inning, San Diego loaded the bases on a walk, a single and a hit by pitch before Cole struck out Hector Sanchez to end an inning he had allowed to linger too long. The Padres left another runner in scoring position in the second, but not in the third.
With Cory Spangenberg on second base, having walked and advanced on a grounder, Myers drilled a two-out line drive to left field. Starling Marte seemed to have a bead on the baseball, sprinting to his right and sliding in the wet grass in a two-time Gold Glove left fielder's attempt to snare the third inning's third out. The ball slipped past him for a run-scoring double.
Cole (9-8) skirted serious trouble in the fourth, keeping the Pirates within one run of the lead. After Hunter Renfroe's leadoff single, Coleman slashed a double to left field which put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Cole, working methodically, escaped unscathed by inducing a pop fly, a comebacker ground ball and a lazy fly ball to right field.
Soft contact was followed, however, by a big bang and separation in the fifth. With one out, Francisco Cervelli fielded a dribbler a fired to first base, but Josh Bell could not pick the throw. The infield single was followed on the next pitch by Myers' 21st home run of the season, a scorched line drive which cleared the center-field wall with a few feet to spare.
Lamet, meanwhile, motored through the Pirates batting order. After Marte was hit by pitch leading off the bottom of the first inning, Lamet set down the next 10 batters in order. The Pirates were hitless until Josh Bell pulled a single to right field with two outs in the fourth. It was their only hit off Lamet, who entered the game with a 5.62 ERA. His issues were the walks.
Lamet cruised into the sixth inning with a healthy pitch count of 74 and secured two quick outs. But then he walked Adam Frazier and Andrew McCutchen, bringing the would-be tying run to the plate in the form of cleanup hitter Josh Bell. Padres manager Andy Green called on right-hander Phil Maton to put out the fire. He did. Bell flied out harmlessly to right field.
The Pirates finally found their way onto the scoreboard when Josh Harrison led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to left-center field off Maton. The homer, Harrison's 12th this season, brought him one shy of the career-high 13 he hit in 2013, his other All-Star season.
Having burst ahead Friday with a six-run seventh inning, the Pirates intended to pull a similar move Saturday. They loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. Frazier, who the previous night ripped an RBI single to left off left-handed reliever Buddy Baumann, did the exact same Saturday. One run scored, and third-base coach Joey Cora held David Freese at third base.
Reliever Craig Stammen entered and got McCutchen to pop out, ending the threat.
The Padres returned their lead to three runs in the eighth when Coleman smashed his third home run this season on a first-pitch fastball from Hudson. The two-run homer marked the first runs charged to Hudson's ledger since June 23, but few outings have been without drama.
