Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Konnor Griffin could hardly have asked for a better first week in the big leagues.
Over the last five days, Griffin made his MLB debut, collected his first hit and RBI and inked a record contract extension to remain in Pittsburgh through 2035.
But Wednesday, following the official announcement of his long-term deal, the Pirates were unable to put a cherry on top for Griffin, as they fell 8-2 to the San Diego Padres at PNC Park in front of 10,046 fans, dropping the three-game series.
San Diego score four runs off reliever Justin Lawrence in the seventh and another four in the ninth off Jose Urquidy, and the Pirates committed three errors in the loss.
“We didn’t play clean baseball again today,” manager Don Kelly said. “It’s something that we have to do moving forward. I mean, making the outs that we need to make.”
Griffin entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh and tried to begin a rally for the Pirates (7-5), who trailed 4-0. The 19-year-old hit a sacrifice fly to break the shutout bid, but the Pirates’ comeback effort fell short. Kelly Griffin’s absence in the starting lineup was scheduled.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller (1-0, 1.00 ERA) was sharp, throwing six scoreless innings. He allowed three hits with a walk and four strikeouts, but Kelly ended his afternoon at 75 pitches.
Per Kelly, Keller’s pitch limit Wednesday was 85.
“I’m not really looking at pitch count or anything like that,” Keller said. “When they tell me my day’s done, I’m done. The time I’m out there I give it everything I can. Yeah, it sucks, obviously. Want to be out there all the time, but yeah, just do what I can do.”
After Keller and Padres starter Michael King (1-1, 3.24 ERA) dueled over six scoreless innings, things unraveled almost immediately for the Pirates upon Lawrence’s arrival in the seventh.
To begin, Nick Gonzales committed a throwing error at shortstop on a Xander Bogaerts grounder. Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos followed with back-to-back doubles that made it 2-0.
Jake Cronenworth then connected on a 2-2 fastball from Lawrence, putting the Padres (6-6) up 4-0.
Lawrence (0-1, 9.53 ERA) was charged for three of the four runs on three hits and took the loss.
“I feel like I made some good pitches in good locations, but obviously they got the bat to it,” Lawrence said. “Unfortunate timing and spoiled a really good start by Mitch there.”
The Pirates answered in the seventh, however, chasing King after Nick Yorke singled and Gonzales followed with a double.
That brought Griffin to the plate against reliever Kyle Hart, and his sharp flyout to left field drove home Yorke to make it 4-1.
Joey Bart then cut the deficit to 4-2 with an RBI single.
But that would be all the damage the Pirates managed the rest of the way.
Following a scoreless eighth inning for both teams, Urquidy stayed on for the ninth.
Griffin, replacing Gonzales at short, fumbled a routine grounder by Castellanos.
After pinch runner Bryce Johnson stole second base, Luis Campusano made it 5-2 with an RBI double.
Fernando Tatis Jr. put the Padres up 6-2 with an RBI hit. Then Yorke — who moved from third to first base in the eighth — tried to nab Tatis at second on a Jackson Merrill grounder.
Botching the throw, the error let Ramon Laureano, who had singled, score, and Tatis later scored from third when Bart unsuccessfully tried to gun down Merrill at second base. That made it 8-2.
In the bottom of the ninth, hard-throwing Padres reliever and Bethel Park native Mason Miller put the Pirates away quietly, striking out Griffin and Bart in the process.
Yorke was 3 for 3, accounting for half of the Pirates’ hits.
With an off day Thursday before three games at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs, Kelly emphasized a need to clean things up defensively and in the bullpen.
But overall, Kelly was pleased by the Pirates’ six-game homestand.
“We played really good yesterday, and I think it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we went 4-2 on the homestand with a really, really good weekend,” Kelly said. “Got some really good pitching, some timely hitting. … When we have games like this, it’s easy to lose sight of how good we’ve been playing baseball and how clean we’ve been playing.”