Carlos Santana clubbed a pair of homers and drove in four runs to lift the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-4 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Former Padres minor league prospect Jack Suwinski and Liover Peguero also homered for the Pirates, who are undefeated in four games against San Diego this season.
Pirates starter Quinn Priester earned his first major league win despite giving up a pair of home runs to Padres leadoff hitter Ha-Seong Kim. Priester (1-1) allowed four runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings in his second big-league start.
Kim gave the Padres a quick 1-0 lead when he drove Priester’s fourth pitch of the game over the left-center-field wall in the first. The Pirates then scored eight unanswered runs before Kim’s second homer of the game and 14th of the season — a two-run shot following a double by Trent Grisham in the fifth.
Suwinski tied the game in the top of the third with his 21st homer of the season. After Andrew McCutchen drew a two-out walk, Santana gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead with a 380-foot drive to right center.
Jared Triolo led off the Pittsburgh fourth with a single, and two outs later, Peguero hit his first major league home run — a 337-foot drive to left that just reached the seats.
In the fifth, Santana hit his second two-run homer of the game — again following a walk to McCutchen. It was Santana’s 11th homer of the season.
Padres starter Yu Darvish (7-7) gave up all four homers, matching a career high. He ended up surrendering seven runs on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
The Pirates finished with 13 hits, getting three apiece from Suwinski and Santana.
Luis Campusano had an RBI double in the sixth to provide the Padres’ fourth and final run.
Pirates second baseman Tucupita Marcano had to be helped off the field with an apparent knee injury after he slid into third in the fifth inning.
–Field Level Media
