Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.

One of Padres manager Andy Green’s wishes -- actually two -- have been granted during the first two games of the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park.

Green has been looking for top-of-rotation starters Eric Lauer and Joey Lucchesi to work deeper into games to take some of the pressure off the Padres bullpen.

And both have against the Pirates.

On Thursday, Lauer allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in the Padres' win. Now, 5 2/3 innings might not sound "deeper," but it marked only the fourth time in nine starts that Lauer pitched into the sixth. And his 105 pitches were the most by a Padre this season.

One night later, Lucchesi equaled his career-long outing by completing seven innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and no walks with six strikeouts in a very efficient 77-pitch effort. He had not pitched beyond 5 2/3 innings in any of his previous four outings. Friday night was also Lucchesi’s first quality start of the season. Also, he has not issued more than two walks in any of his nine starts this season.

Notebook

• RF Franmil Reyes homered in both of the first two games against the Pirates to give him 14 homers on the season. He has hit four homers in his past five games, six in the past 11 and eight in the past 16 games. Reyes has hit safely in 15 of his past 18 games, going 24-for-70 (.343) with four doubles, the eight homers, 17 RBIs and 15 runs scored for a slash line of .343/.352/.743/1.095.

• SS Manny Machado was 1-for-3 with a walk Friday night to extend his hitting streak to 10 games (14-for-37) with two doubles, a homer and four walks. He has raised his batting average from .236 to .267 during the streak.

• 1B Eric Hosmer was also 1-for-3 with a walk Friday night to reach base in a 14th straight game. He is 20-for-50 during the streak with three doubles, a homer and four walks. He has also hit safely in 18 of his past 20 games, going 29-for-74 with four doubles and four home runs.

• 3B Ty France's two-run, ninth-inning homer Friday night gave him a 2-for-4 night that ended a run of 15 straight hitless at-bats.