After 12 innings and manager Andy Green’s ejection, the Padres dropped the series finale 5-4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday afternoon from PNC Park. There was a lot of drama in this contest but it was a slow build.
The Friars got on the board early thanks to Cory Spangenberg’s RBI single which scored Manny Margot in the first inning. After a little heads-up base running, Spangenberg scored on a wild pitch by Pirates righty Jameson Taillon and gave San Diego a 2-0 lead. Pittsburgh responded and added four runs in the third inning and took a 4-2 lead over the Friars.
The Padres caught up in the ninth inning when Manuel Margot delivered a two run RBI single to left field. Hunter Renfroe and Matt Szczur scored and the game was tied at four runs apiece. This one went into extra innings and that’s when things got dicey.
In the top of the 10th inning with two outs for the Padres, Wil Myers stepped into a batted ball and was called out by the home plate umpire. Andy Green came out of the dug out to ask the official to discuss the call with the first plate umpire. Trip Gibson, the home plate umpire refused to ask for help from the first plate umpire and Green got pretty fired up. Ultimately, the Friar’s skipper returned to the dugout but was visibly annoyed by the inning ending call.
Padres reliever Brad Hand took the mound in the bottom of the 10th. The Friars All-Star had us a little concerned when he intentionally walked Andrew McCutchen and David Freese, while Starling Marte was already on third base. There was only one out for the Pirates when Jose Osuna went up to bat. Then we remembered why Hand was named an All-Star. Osuna grounded out to the third base line where short stop Dusty Coleman was waiting. Coleman fired it over to Carlos Asuaje at second who shot it over to Myers at first and with that the Padres infield turned a double play that ended the threat and the inning.
The double play may have been smooth, but something rattled Green. The Padres manager was back out at home plate arguing with the umpire and was quickly ejected; but not before making sure his voice was heard.
After the game Green was asked about the argument to which he replied, “My perspective on that play, it’s a game ending double play or a game ending fielder’s choice, so my perspective was my players don’t need to stay on the field to wait for a replay. I simply said they don’t need to stay out there. He said he was doing his job and I said they can come off the field. We had a disagreement there. That was literally the extent of that one…obviously precipitated on the conversation on the Wil Myers foul ball, so he felt I was telling him how to do his job.”
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In the top of the 12th inning Sean Rodriguez, on his first day back with the Pirates, crushed a walk-off home run off of Friars lefty Buddy Baumann and secured the 5-4 victory and the series for Pittsburgh.
The Padres continue their road trip with the first of four games against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday August 7 at 4:10 p.m. PST from Great American Ball Park.
