Petco Park – San Diego

Friday night saw the Padres edge the Pirates 3-2, aided by impressive work out of the bullpen. With the victory, the Padres extended a 10-game winning streak against the Pirates, dating back to 2024.

The streak went on the line again Saturday, with Dylan Cease making his twelfth start of the season. However, Oneil Cruz quickly jumped on Cease with a leadoff double shot to right. The veteran Andrew McCutchen made things worse, drawing a key seven-pitch walk. On the following pitch, Bryan Reynolds looped a single down in front of Gavin Sheets in left field to plate the first run of the game.

Cease came back with two strikeouts, the first of six on the night for the right-hander. His stuff wasn’t as sharp as it’s been, and a couple of pesky at-bats ran his pitch count up early. Cease was only able to go four and two-thirds innings before turning the ball over to Sean Reynolds.

Timely hitting proved to be the key to the Pirates’ success in the game. After Cease had recorded two outs in the fourth, a bloop of a double followed by an RBI single by Ke’Bryan Hayes quickly tacked a run on for Pittsburgh. Before Cease’s departure, Andrew McCutchen was able to hit an elusive homer against the right-on-right slider.

Andrew McCutchen sent this one out in a hurry ?‍? pic.twitter.com/uBZt3OMLQE

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 1, 2025

While the Padres’ offense made contact against the Pirates’ starter Bailey Falter, it amounted to just two hits. An encouraging leadoff infield knock from Fernando  Tatis Jr, and a Martin Maldonado single were all she wrote versus the lefty. Falter issued a walk to Gavin Sheets and recorded his lone strikeout against Maldonado.

A good sign for San Diego was a perfect inning and two-thirds from Reynolds out of the Padres’ bullpen. He recorded two strikeouts, one forward K on a slider and one backward on a 98 MPH fastball.

Yuki Matsui relieved him in the seventh, and quickly got into trouble as Cruz sent another rocket for a single. Three more consecutive hits forced Matsui out of the game and put the Bucs on top, 5-0.

Following the departure, Bradgley Rodriguez made his major league debut with runners on first and second. On his second MLB pitch, he got a slow comebacker and turned it into an inning-ending double play.

Falter began the seventh just 75 pitches deep and retired Luis Arraez to end his scoreless night. The former Dodger Caleb Ferguson came on to face Manny Machado, was able to strike him out. Afterwards, Jackson Merrill worked a deep count but flew out to end the seventh.

Rodriguez came back for the eighth and got into trouble after walking the leadoff hitter, Henry Davis. However, he came back and induced two pop-ups on well-located high fastballs. He hit Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, but then worked maybe the most impressive at-bat of the night. After falling behind Oneil Cruz– in the midst of a good night at the dish– 3-1, Rodriguez dropped in a tricky changeup for strike two, and fired a 98 MPH two-seamer on the inside corner to sit the big lefty down for his first MLB strikeout.

Bradgley’s first @MLB strikeout is in the books. pic.twitter.com/hssMwT79oX

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 1, 2025

Coming out in the eighth, Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth both worked walks, but Elias Diaz went down swinging on three pitches to end the threat. David Bednar came on to secure the win in a non-save situation in the ninth, as the Pirates shut out the Friars, 5-0.

In the postgame presser, Mike Shildt was asked about Falter’s impressive performance for the Pirates, and he credited the left-hander.  “He’s pitched really well, clearly, carried it over to tonight”, Shildt said, noting that he handled both lefties and righties well. The skipper also praised his team for rallying around Rodriguez’s double-play that he induced in his debut.

The loss ended the Padres’ streak of ten straight victories against the Pirates. A lack of competitiveness in some at-bats and some hard-hit balls that didn’t find the right spots led to a very quiet day at the plate for San Diego. The rubber match will take place tomorrow at 1:10 PM at Petco Park. San Diego will look to secure a 4-2 record on the homestand and look to win their third straight series.

Willy Warren

A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a combination of around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X, and daily newsletters on the TikTok platform. Willy passionately studies Journalism at San Dieguito Academy, and is working to become billingual in Spanish to assist in communicating with Latin-born players and coaches.