SAN DIEGO —
The Pittsburgh Pirates have seen enough of the San Diego Padres.
Andrew Werner allowed two runs over six-plus innings in his major league debut and Carlos Quentin drove in three runs, leading the Padres to a 4-2 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday.
The win not only completed San Diego’s three-game sweep but gave the Padres their 18th win in 21 games against Pittsburgh.
“This team has presented us nothing but trouble,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “I wish I could make something of it other than you want to stop it. I don’t know the reason why. We don’t take them lightly. They’ve been a pretty bit formidable for us.”
San Diego also put a crimp in the Pirates’ playoff plans as they dropped 8 1-2 games behind first-place Cincinnati in the NL Central.
While Pittsburgh remains in the wild-card hunt, its play will have to improve.
The Pirates have lost 15 of 24 since July 28, when they were two games behind Cincinnati in the division and led the NL wild card.
NL batting leader Andrew McCutchen said he needs to step it up if the Bucs are to stay in contention.
McCutchen went 1 for 5 as his batting average dropped to .349. McCutchen, who has only two home runs and 11 RBIs since July 18, went 3 for 15 in the series.
“I’m not happy with how I’m swinging the bat right now,” he said. “I’m a lot better than where I am right now. I’ve still got to keep working hard. I know it’ll change.”
Werner could barely believe he was facing McCutchen.
“If you have told me two years ago, I would be facing Andrew McCutchen in a big league game, I would have told you that you were crazy,” Werner said.
But he struck out McCutchen to end the first inning and handled the rest of the Pirates with ease.
“He was hitting his spots, which makes most pitchers effective,” McCutchen said. “He kept the ball down. He could get hurt if he leaves stuff up, but he didn’t do that.”
Quentin had three RBIs for the second straight game, including a two-run double in the first inning and an RBI single in the fifth.
Werner, a 25-year-old who was called up from Triple-A Tucson earlier in the day, allowed four hits, walked four and struck out two.
Brad Brach, Luke Gregerson and rookie Tommy Layne finished the four-hitter. Layne pitched the ninth for his first major league save.
Werner was coming off one of his worst starts of the season in which he allowed a season-high eight runs in 4 1-3 innings.
But he kept Pittsburgh off balance and had allowed only Pedro Alvarez’s fourth-inning RBI single heading into the seventh. After Gaby Sanchez led off the seventh with his fourth homer and Werner walked Alvarez, the rookie was lifted.
San Diego gave Werner a big lift by scoring three runs in the first inning off James McDonald (11-6) on only one hit.
“I was out of rhythm. You can’t walk guys,” McDonald said. “This is a team that sees a lot of pitches. They know the strike zone well . . . I got a better feel as the game went on.”
McDonald gave up four runs and five hits over five innings. McDonald walked five and struck out two.
The Pirates, who have lost four of five, were swept in a three-game series for the first time since losing at Baltimore in June.
McDonald started the first inning by issuing consecutive walks to Everth Cabrera, Will Venable and Chase Headley.
Quentin came a few feet away from hitting a grand slam when his fly ball hit off the wall in left-center field for a two-run double.
Mark Kotsay followed with a sacrifice fly.
McCutchen reached on a one-out single in the fourth. After a walk, McCutchen scored on a Pedro Sanchez’s two-out single.
NOTES: McCutchen finished the season series against San Diego hitting just .184 (5 for 27) with no homers and two RBIs. . Since 2006, the Pirates are 6-16 at Petco Park.
Sports
Bucs finish road trip with thud
Team loses ground as Padres sweep
- Sports
-
-
FSU, MVB team up for successful tournament
The Falcons and MVB paired to complete th 21st annual MVB-Fairmont State Athletic Association Golf Tournament at the Bridgeport Country Club on Friday.
Fairmont State’s mission during the event was to sell out, so thar FSU could raise as much money as possible for the athletic department. -
Trefz wins state title in 3,200 meter
Winning it all.
Fairmont Senior’s senior phenom Nick Trefz can now call himself a state champion in track.
Trefz took home the gold in the 3,200 meters in Charleston on Friday with a time of 9:36.21. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: Flying WV logo draws attention outside country
Sometimes you hit a nerve, as we did a while back when we wrote about the wide reach of West Virginia University’s flying WV logo.
It has meant a lot to a lot of people. -
Seahawks’ Bruce Irvin suspended four games
Bruce Irvin, one of only two West Virginia University defensive linemen ever to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft, will miss the first four games of the 2014 National Football League season because of a failed test for performance-enhancing drugs.
-
WVU falls to Oklahoma State, 5-0
The West Virginia University baseball dropped its fifth consecutive game with a 5-0 loss to No. 16 Oklahoma State on Friday evening at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
-
Polar Bears cruise past Notre Dame
Polar Bear baseball gets it done yet again.
During exhibition play against Notre Dame on Friday evening, Fairmont Senior was able to keep its eight-game winning streak alive. -
Reaves rejoins Carey as an assistant coach
Mike Carey has run through a lot of assistant basketball coaches during his time at West Virginia University, so it comes as no surprise that he has started repeating assistants.
Carey announced on Friday that Sharrona Reaves has returned as an assistant on his West Virginia staff. -
Crosby leads Penguins to win over Senators
Sidney Crosby had his second career playoff hat trick and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brenden Morrow added his first playoff goal in more than five years, Tomas Vokoun made 19 saves and the Penguins rode their superstar captain to their fourth straight victory. -
Dropped fly ball gives Pirates 5-4 win over Astros
Jimmy Paredes dropped Russell Martin’s bases-loaded fly ball when he collided with second baseman Jake Elmore with two outs in the ninth inning, the second missed catch by a Houston right fielder, and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied past the Astros 5-4 Friday night.
-
Tyler Walter making most of opportunity in college
Take the opportunity and run.
That’s exactly what former Fairmont Senior first baseman Tyler Walter did during his freshman season at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland.
“I wanted to get an opportunity and needed to prove that I belonged,” Walter said. - More Sports Headlines
-
