Just when it seemed anything less than a superb Yu Darvish might mean the Padres were sunk, their ace having been sent off earlier than usual instead ignited what for them is an explosion of offense.
In a grievously tense tussle with one of the major leagues’ least big-league teams, the Padres scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, with help from the Pirates’ fourth error of the game, and held on for a 4-2 victory Wednesday night.
It was just the fourth time in their past 16 games at Petco Park that the Padres scored more than three runs.
For the dearth of hits with runners in scoring position and the paltry slugging percentage, it is a pair of statistics that explain much of what is right and wrong with the Padres this season:
They are 12-0 when they lead after six innings and 3-13 when they trail after six innings.
Give their bullpen a lead, and the Padres will win.
So, they are scoring just enough often enough to be OK for now.
It is on the shoulders of their pitching staff that they went 4-2 on the homestand and are 18-14, a half-game behind the National League West-leading Giants, who they play three times in San Francisco this weekend.
Darvish on Wednesday departed a game before finishing at least six innings for the first time in his past six starts and just the third time in 22 starts dating to 2019.
Craig Stammen stranded the two runners left by Darvish with two outs in the sixth. Tim Hill worked a perfect seventh and Emilio Pagán a perfect eighth before Mark Melancon survived a two-out infield single to earn his major league-leading 11th save.
The bullpen’s work mattered because the Padres finally capitalized on a Pirates error.
Victor Caratini, who had put the Padres up 1-0 in the third inning with his second home run of the season, led off the sixth by hitting a grounder the other way against the shift that bounced off third baseman Erik Gonzalez’s glove in what would normally be the hole at shortstop.
Pinch-hitter Trent Grisham then lined a double to the corner in left field to move Caratini to third, and after Tommy Pham’s third strikeout of the night, Jake Cronenworth lined a two-run single to right field.
The Pirates had tied the game with two runs in the top of the sixth.
Bryan Reynolds sent the first pitch of the sixth inning to the seats beyond left field, and two singles followed before Darvish struck out Jacob Stallings.
Jayce Tingler walked to the mound for a conference with Darvish, Caratini and the entire infield before walking back to the dugout. Two pitches later, a 95 mph fastball from Darvish hit Hunter Owen’s right hand before he could jump out of the way.
That brought Tingler back out and Stammen into the game.
The only time Darvish had not gone a least six innings in his previous 21 starts was his first start of the season in 2020 and his first start this year.
Since allowing four runs in 4 2/3 innings on opening day, Darvish went at least 6 1/3 innings in each of his next five starts — while allowing one run and no more than four hits in each of them. The Pirates scored a run on three hits over seven innings against him on April 12.
His 1.35 ERA in that span was third lowest in the National League. His 0.75 WHIP was fifth.
While Darvish allowed the two runs on six hits and did not stick long enough to get the decision, the Padres improved to 6-1 in his starts.
They did it by equaling their run total of the previous three games. Yes, the supposedly vaunted Padres offense scored one run Sunday, two on Monday and one on Tuesday.
As Tingler has pointed out, offense is down almost throughout the majors. And the Padres weren’t the only ones to not score much off JT Brubaker, the Pirates starter who brought a 2.63 ERA into Wednesday’s game.
Brubaker had thrown 24 pitches when he took the mound in the third inning. He threw 30 more before leaving the mound at the end of the third.
The Padres sent seven batters to the plate in that inning — and led 1-0 because the first of those batters, Caratini, sent a high fly ball that came down 401 feet from home plate and just a few feet beyond the wall in right-center field.
Brubaker struck out Darvish and Pham before Cronenworth singled. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a groundball that traveled about 20 feet but got him two bases, as Brubaker’s throw sailed high and down the right-field line. Tatis was credited with a single, and he and Cronenworth each took an extra base.
Eric Hosmer walked to load the bases before Wil Myers grounded out to third base. That made the Padres 4-for-29 with the bases loaded this season, a .138 average that ranks last in the majors.
They added a run in the fifth when Tatis walked with one out, went to third on Hosmer’s single and scored on a single by Myers.
