Pirates starter Francisco Liriano struck out a season high 13 batters. He punched out eight Padres batters before the fourth inning. Liriano cruised through seven innings of scoreless ball to get the win and improve his record to 14-5

Andrew Cashner pitched well for the Padres, but once again got very little run support. Cashner (8-8) took the loss despite giving up just one earned run over seven innings.

Pedro Alvarez was involved in all of the Pirates runs. His fourth inning hit got through the legs of outfielder Chris Denorfia and rolled all the way to the wall. The error allowed Andrew McCutchen to score from first and Alvarez chugged all the way around the diamond to cross home plate as well. He added a solo homer in the sixth, his 31st of the season, to make it 3-0 Bucs.

The Padres scored in the bottom of the ninth to spoil the shutout, but still fell to Pittsburgh 3-1. Game two of the three game series is Tuesday night at Petco Park.