San Diego at Pittsburgh
07/27/2008 - *Hairston, Padres take third straight from Pirates*
=================================================== San Diego 3, Pittsburgh 1
------------------------- By Chris Adamski
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Scott Hairston and Josh Bard hit late
solo homers and Jake Peavy pitched seven strong innings as the
San Diego Padres won their third game in a row over the
Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1, Sunday afternoon. Hairston's blast to left field on a 2-0 pitch off John Grabow
with one out in the eighth broke a 1-1 tie and was his eighth
homer in the month of July and 17th of the season. Bard homered off Grabow (5-3) with one out in the ninth, giving
the Padres the final margin. It was the first homer of the
season for Bard, who also had an RBI single. "I was looking for ball out and over the plate," Hairston said
of what proved to be the winning hit. "I was able to get a
pitch I was able to handle, and I put a good swing on it. I was
able to get it up and over." "It's been a long while," Bard said of the team's last
three-game winning streak, a five-game stretch in early June. "I
think (Peavy) really picked us up today. And you can't say
enough about Scott Hairston. All the guy gets is big home runs.
He's an amazing player." Those home runs made a winner out of Peavy (8-6), who was locked
in a pitcher's duel with Paul Maholm most of the afternoon.
After the two teams combined for 36 runs during the first three
games of the series, Sunday's finale was owned for seven innings
by the starting pitchers. "I think you could tell early on that was going to be a pitching
duel," Padres manager Bud Black said. Peavy gave up one run and four hits with three walks and 10
strikeouts, throwing 127 pitches. "I knew going in that (Maholm) had been throwing very well and I
knew I was matched up against their best guy," Peavy said. "I
knew I had to put up some zeros. I had good command. I was
able to expand the zone, get ahead. It was a good day." Heath Bell pitched a perfect eighth for San Diego and Trevor
Hoffman worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 21st save and third in as
many days. The Padres scored the game's first run in the top of the fourth
inning when Bard's two-out ground ball just eluded Jack Wilson's
glove in the hole between short and third, scoring Adrian
Gonzalez. Peavy did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the
fourth, but it was a costly one as Adam LaRoche's single up the
middle scored Nate McLouth, who had walked and stolen second. Maholm walked the first two batters he faced only two more than
the minimum from that point on. The lefthander allowed one run
and four hits, matching a career high with nine strikeouts. "Overall, whenever you go seven and give up one and keep your
team in the game - especially against a guy like Peavy, you know
it's going to be a low-scoring game," Maholm said. "You've got
to keep your team in the game. Overall, I thought it was pretty
good. All four pitches were working." Before taking the final three games of the series against
Pittsburgh, San Diego had lost nine of its past 10 and 26 of 33.
The Pirates had won four in a row before the skid, which began
Friday night after the team traded Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte
to the New York Yankees. "I wouldn't say we wasted (Maholm's strong outing because) their
guys was pretty good, too," Pirates manager John Russell said.
"We battled. We were right there at the end. That's all you
can ask."
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