With Tuesday’s 3-0 win, the 2024 San Diego Padres are the first team in franchise history to win 18 of 21 games.

To win their fifth straight against the Buccos, Padres skipper Mike Shildt gave the nod to right-hander Michael King (3.34 ERA), making his second straight start against the Pirates. In the Padres 9-8 extra innings win on August 7, King allowed three earned runs over five frames.

King twirled a quality start, tossing six scoreless innings and punching out 10 Pirates in the process.

Pittsburg manager Derek Shelton gave the right-hander Luis Ortiz (3.40 ERA) the start. In his last three games, the struggling Ortiz has surrendered 13 earned runs in 16.1 innings.

San Diego jumped on the board early in the first when Manny Machado plated Luis Arráez on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to give the Friars a 1-0 lead. Despite the early lead, the Padres offense did not record a base hit until the fourth frame via a Jake Cronenworth single. One inning later, David Peralta doubled the Padres lead 2-0 on his fifth home run of the season, a 410-foot no-doubter that left his bat at 109-MPH.

After King exited, Shildt went to Jason Adam to pitch the seventh. The frame began with frustration as Adam hit Isiah Kiner-Falefa with a front door sweeper, which Kiner-Falefa appeared to lean into. The Pirates threatened to cut the Padres’ lead in half after Kiner-Falefa stole second and third, but Adam stranded him 90 feet away with a strikeout of Bryan De La Cruz.

Tanner Scott pitched the eighth and worked in and out of trouble like Adam. Bryan Reynolds scorched a 107-MPH double with one out to the right-centerfield gap. After Reynolds took third base on a Oneil Cruz 4-3 groundout, Scott blew a heater by Joey Bart to strike him out and strand a runner at third base for the second consecutive inning.

The Padres added their third run in the bottom of the frame when Machado scored Arráez on a single off Cruz’s glove at shortstop and into centerfield.

The Friar closer Robert Suarez went on in the ninth and shut the door for his 27th save of the season. For the first time in the club’s 55-year history, the team has posted an 18-3 stretch.

Max Schwartzberg

A San Diegan born and raised, Max Schwartzberg is a diehard Padres fan who created and hosts the YouTube channel Padres Previews, a hub where he passionately delivers Padres news, updates, reactions, and hype videos. At Northeastern, Max broadcasts and writes for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Max dreams of following in the steps of Padres broadcaster and Northeastern alumnus Don Orsillo to become a Major League Baseball announcer.