Pittsburgh Pirates hammer San Diego Padres 11-5 to avoid sweep – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates produced another magical performance as they thrashed the San Diego Padres 11-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 12 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Manager Clint Hurdle will be very happy to see the Pirates ending the series on a winning note. Padres secured comfortable victories in first two games of the series and they had an excellent opportunity to wrap up an impressive series sweep but the Pirates
fought back just at the right time to avoid embarrassment in front of their home crowd.
Despite losing the series, the Pirates are placed second on National League Central Division standings table. It will be interesting to see if Hurdle and company can end the season on a positive note to grab one of the wild card spots.
After San Diego took an early 5-0 lead, it seemed as if they will cruise to another comprehensive win but Neil Walker rose to the occasion as he earned an RBI single to centre to give Pittsburgh the momentum.
Clint Barmes played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash, hitting a grand slam home-run to left in the fourth to help his side come back from behind for a 6-5 lead.
"It was the biggest home run of my career," Barmes said. "I've never hit a grand slam before and it came in a big situation when we needed something big to happen. If felt good, really good. I was excited."
Michael McKenry, Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones all drove in crucial runs to take the lead beyond Padres’ reach.
"They ambushed us there in the fourth inning and we just couldn't make the pitches along the way to stem the tide," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "If you've been around the game long enough, you'll run into those innings where everything they do works,
everything you do doesn't and you can't stop the momentum."
Pirates’ starting pitcher bounced back from a shaky start for his seventh win of the season. Overall, he gave up five runs in five innings while striking-out six.
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