Padres Continue Dominance Over Pirates at PNC Park

Since PNC Park opened in Pittsburgh, the Padres have been absolutely dominant in the Steel City, going 31-11 with 14 straight series wins. That’s right, the Padres have never dropped a SERIES to the Pirates since PNC opened in 2001. The trend continued Sunday as Tyson Ross (11-10, 2.63 ERA), continued to prove that his All-Star Game selection in July was no fluke. His quality start and an offensive explosion by the Padres led to a dominant victory with a final scoreline of 8-2.

The Oakland native had a rough start, allowing a single to Starling Marte to start the game, which was followed by a home run by Gregory Polanco to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead in the 1st.

Ross would settle down, going six strong innings allowing six hits with two walks and three strike outs. He did not allow a run after the home run in the 1st. The Padres then used the bullpen combination of Blaine Boyer, Dale Thayer and Tim Stauffer to finish up the final three innings.

The Padres were down 2-1 in the 5th inning when Seth Smith gave the Padres a 5-2 lead with a bases clearing triple, just barely missing a grand slam on a line drive to left field. Smith then scored on a wild pitch to cap off the four run inning. Jedd Gyorko continued his hot hitting since his return from the disabled list as he smacked a two-run single in the 9th. Yonder Alonso also had a good game, with an RBI single in the fourth inning and then a sac fly to bring in a run in the 7th.

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