Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
Travis Jankowski reached base twice in five plate appearances Thursday night in Pittsburgh to continue his strong run at the top of the Padres batting order.
Jankowski has reached base in 11 consecutive games, which is the second longest streak of his career to the 24-game streak he had from July 31-Aug. 26 of the 2016 season.
     
Jankowski is hitting .381 (16-for-42) as the leadoff hitter with two triples and a home run with eight walks for a .480 on-base percentage. He also has five of the Padres' six leadoff hits to start the game.
     
Jankowski has also hit safely in nine of his last 10 games with five multi-hit efforts, going 15-for-38 (.387) with two triples and a homer with a .500 on-base percentage.
     
NOTEBOOK:
     
--The Pirates are the 10th different team the Padres have faced this season. And only one of those teams - the defending National League champion Dodgers - have had a losing record. The Padres opponents this far have a 235-194 record for a .547 winning percentage.    
     
--SS Freddy Galvis was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored Thursday night before being ejected in the bottom of the eighth for arguing a third strike. Over his last four games, Galvis is 7-for-13 with three of his season total five doubles and a triple for a RBI and four runs scored. The surge followed a 13-for-89 slump and has raised his batting average 27 points to .239.
     
--Ironically, when Galvis was ejected, Carlos Asuaje came in to play third. On Monday, the Padres optioned Asuaje to Triple-A El Paso with one idea he start playing third to improve his versatility. He was recalled a day later when LHP Joey Lucchesi was placed on the 10-day disabled list. And two days later, Asuaje played third for the first time as a Padre. He flawlessly handled two chances in the ninth.
     
--1B Eric Hosmer was 1-for-4 with his 14th double and three RBIs Thursday to extend his hitting streak to six straight games. He is 7-for-23 during the streak with three doubles and a homer for seven RBIs and two runs scored. Hosmer is on a 50-doubles pace. The Padres single-season record for doubles is 49 by Tony Gwynn in 1997.
     
--RHP Kirby Yates continued his stellar run Thursday night with 1 1/3 perfect innings of relief in Pittsburgh. Yates has made nine straight scoreless appearances, allowing four hits and four walks with 11 strikeouts over 8 1/3 innings to lower his earned run average from 1.59 to 0.64.