Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales each had clutch two-run singles to back up a gem by Paul Skenes and propel the host Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
Skenes (2-1) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a one-out single by Fernando Tatis Jr. Throwing 87 pitches, Skenes gave up one run — a Xander Bogaerts homer in the seventh — on two hits in 6 1/3 innings and struck out six. He also walked two and hit a batter.
Rookie Konnor Griffin, Ryan O’Hearn and Henry Davis each had two hits as the Pirate erupted for five runs in the eighth off Adrian Morejon to cement their sixth win in their past seven games.
Bogaerts’ home run off Skenes was the first surrendered this season by a Pittsburgh starter. San Diego had a three-game winning streak snapped after being held to three hits. Pittsburgh was the only team left in the majors whose starting pitching had not allowed a homer.
Miguel Andujar had the only other hit for San Diego, which had scored 13 runs over its previous two games.
Gonzales’ big hit came with the bases loaded and one out to kickstart that eighth-inning surge, driving in Bryan Reynolds and O’Hearn to make it 4-1. Jake Mangum added another run on a pinch-hit RBI single to score Nick Yorke. Griffin drove in Reynolds and Mangum with a single to left.
Cruz went 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts, but extended his hitting streak to seven and collected his 11th and 12th RBIs.
Spencer Horwitz and Griffin delivered back-to-back singles with one out off Padres starter Nick Pivetta (1-2) in the fifth. After Henry Davis popped out, Cruz went opposite field on a 1-2 fastball from Pivetta and shot it down the left field line to make it 2-0. The runs snapped a 15-inning scoreless streak for the Pirates.
Pivetta struck out eight and allowed those two runs on four hits and one walk over five innings.
