Andrew McCutchen moved into a tie with a franchise icon, but the Pittsburgh Pirates blew a chance to win successive series for the first time this season.
McCutchen got the Pirates going when he hit a two-run home run in the third inning — his 240th with the Pirates — to tie Roberto Clemente for third place among the club’s all-time leaders.
The San Diego Padres rallied by drawing four walks and three hits in a four-run seventh inning to pull away for a 6-4 win Sunday afternoon at Petco Park and clinch the three-game series.
The Pirates (22-38) split their six-game road trip, despite winning two of three at Arizona. The Pirates return home for a nine-game homestand at PNC Park that begins Tuesday against the Houston Astros, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins.
Manny Machado hit Andrew Heaney’s 1-1 slider 396 feet to left field for his seventh home run to give the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Pirates answered in a historic way in the third. Oneil Cruz drew a full-count walk with one out, then stole second base to put a runner in scoring position for McCutchen. After fouling off four pitches, McCutchen crushed Randy Vasquez’s 2-2 curveball 365 feet to left field for his fifth home run of the season and 240th with the Pirates.
It marked back-to-back games with homers for McCutchen, who hadn’t gone deep since April 27 at the Los Angeles Dodgers. More importantly, it tied him with a legend, Clemente, for the third-most homers behind Ralph Kiner (301) and all-time franchise leader Willie Stargell (475).
And the Pirates weren’t done.
Spencer Horwitz doubled and scored on a single by Ke’Bryan Hayes for a 3-0 lead in the third. Adam Frazier added another homer to lead off the fourth inning, sending a first-pitch cutter 373 feet to left-center to make it 4-0.
After singles by Tommy Pham and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Padres pulled Vasquez, who allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. Wandy Peralta walked Cruz to load the bases but struck out McCutchen and got Bryan Reynolds to ground out.
Heaney retired 13 consecutive batters before Luis Arraez hit a bloop double down the left-field line, then scored on Jackson Merrill’s double to the right-field corner to cut the Padres’ deficit to 4-2. That was it for Heaney, who allowed two runs on five hits and three strikeouts without a walk over 5 2/3 innings. Chase Shugart got pinch hitter Tyler Wade to fly out to right to protect the two-run advantage.
The Padres rallied in the seventh against Tanner Rainey, who walked Xander Bogaerts and Jose Iglesias then surrendered a single up the middle to Elias Diaz that scored Bogaerts to make it a one-run game.
The Pirates replaced Rainey by turning to lefty Caleb Ferguson, who hadn’t allowed any inherited runners to score this season. Not only did the Padres take the lead, they padded it.
Arraez singled to drive in the tying run, and Machado followed with a fly to the warning track in center for a sacrifice fly to score Diaz and give the Padres a 5-4 lead. Ferguson walked Merrill to load the bases, and Tyler Wade hit a soft grounder that rolled past the mound to score Fernando Tatis Jr. to make it 6-4.
The Padres retired 16 of the final 17 Pirates hitters. After Jason Adam pitched a perfect eighth, Robert Suarez struck out Kiner-Falefa and Cruz to record his 19th save.