Padres manager Andy Green has been wanting his veteran (read: guys who are not rookies) to go deeper into games to give the San Diego bullpen a rest. On Friday night Joey Lucchesi did just that on Friday night against the Pirates.
The beleaguered bullpen lost anyway.
Lucchesi gave up two runs in 7.0 innings and only threw an extremely efficient 77 pitches but the 'pen coughed up three runs to give Pittsburgh a 5-3 win. Brad Wieck allowed one run in the 8th inning and Gerardo Reyes got touched up for two more in the 9th.
Of course, with the way the Padres offense has been going there is simply not much room for the pitching staff to error. San Diego was once again far too reliant upon the long ball.
Franmil Reyes destroyed his 14th home run of the year in the first inning. The solo shot flew an estimated 420 feet off former San Diego pitcher Jordan Lyles. That was the only run Lyles gave up in 7.0 innings.
The Friars didn't score again until the 9th inning when former Aztec Ty France smoked a 2-run home run to left field off Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez. France had two hits but as a team the Padres struck out 15 times.
San Diego tries to avoid falling to the .500 mark on Saturday evening when Nick Margevicious gets the start against Montana DuRapau in what is going to be a bullpen day for Pittsburgh.
