SAN DIEGO _ Prior to Saturday's game, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle fielded a question about the hard contact Ivan Nova permitted in his two recent starts, the hard contact that resulted in 19 hits and 10 runs in 11 innings.
"I would say it's more about location and execution of pitches," Hurdle said.
The issues continued. The San Diego Padres sprayed line drives around Petco Park during a 4-2 Pirates loss, their fourth loss in a row and sixth in the past seven games.
The Pirates (50-54) are not handling bad teams the way they should. They are now 2-13 against the Padres, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants, all of whom are in fourth or fifth place with a combined winning percentage of .410. They trail the Chicago Cubs by 5{ games in the division.
Again Saturday night the Pirates made mediocre pitching look stellar. Rookie right-hander Dinelson Lamet brought a 5.92 ERA into Saturday's start; he had allowed 14 runs, 12 earned, in 142/3 innings in his previous three outings. Mixing his fastball and slider, he allowed the Pirates nearly nothing.
Through four innings he had six strikeouts without allowing a hit. Starling Marte struck out twice swinging at sliders, the second time going after a pitch in the left-handed batter's box that catcher Hector Sanchez nearly couldn't reach. Josh Bell also struck out on sliders in his first two at-bats. Through two games in this series the Pirates have struck out 23 times.
In addition to swinging at pitcher's pitches, the Pirates couldn't cash in on pitches they could do damage with. They had something going in the fifth, when David Freese and Adam Frazier hit consecutive singles with nobody out, before Francisco Cervelli lined into a double play. Jordy Mercer was ready for Lamet's first pitch and got a good one, a fastball on the inner half of the plate and up in the zone, but popped it up.
Lamet's parting gifts to the Pirates were a hit batter, two wild pitches and a walk, which the Pirates turned into two runs in the seventh. Lamet allowed two hits in six-plus innings with seven strikeouts.
Padres leadoff hitter Manuel Margot began the evening by fisting a good two-strike curveball into center field for a single. That would be some of the last soft contact of the evening.
Two batters later, after Margot reached second on a delayed steal, Jose Pirela roped a triple to the wall. Sanchez followed with a double. Corey Spangenberg singled, and only a strikeout-caught-stealing double play prevented further damage.
Nova pitched around another Pirela triple in the third. After Spangenberg singled in the fourth, Hunter Renfroe lined a double to left. The final, and loudest, blow came in the fifth.
Ahead 0-1 after a first-pitch curveball, Nova hung a changeup to Margot, who crushed it off the Western Metal Supply Co. building in left field. Just as instructive was the reaction of the next hitter. Carlos Asuaje was visibly frustrated that he just missed a first-pitch, middle-middle fastball, resulting in a flyout.
In five innings, Nova gave up four runs and eight hits, five of which went for extra bases. He didn't walk a batter, struck out six and threw only 67 pitches, but the hard contact allowed meant the Padres didn't require that many.
