SAN DIEGO -- As Andrew McCutchen’s low line drive zoomed to left field, the Pirates, for a moment, appeared to have finally delivered the big hit that they desperately sought on Tuesday night. If the ball found green grass, the tying run, at a minimum, would score and the offense would have life.
Enter, Juan Soto.
Soto took several hard steps to his right, dove and extended. McCutchen’s line drive, for all its promise, found Soto’s glove. Inning over. Rally over. On a night where the Pirates mustered just one hit in nine opportunities with runners in scoring position and lost to the Padres, 5-1, at Petco Park, McCutchen’s lineout encapsulated the frustrations of the night.
“We had opportunities,” manager Derek Shelton said. “I thought [Blake Snell] threw the ball really well. Changeup was probably about as good as I’ve seen it. But the biggest thing is when we had runners in scoring position, we went out of the zone.
“We cannot do that against a pitcher who’s leading the league in ERA.”
In the fifth inning, the Pirates loaded the bases against Snell with one out for the top of the order. With his back against the wall, Snell struck out Connor Joe and Bryan Reynolds swinging, the latter tossing his bat and slamming his helmet in frustration upon being punched out.
The following frame, the Pirates had another opportunity to scratch across a run against Snell, putting runners on first and second with two outs, but Snell got Nick Gonzales to ground out and end the inning.
In the seventh inning, a different type of frustration unfolded within a sequence of just three pitches.
On a 2-1 count with Angel Perdomo pitching and Soto at the plate, catcher Endy Rodríguez, with the help of an athletic tag by Alika Williams in his Major League debut, threw out Ha-Seong Kim for the second time in as many nights.
On the next pitch, Perdomo left a four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate that Soto launched into the San Diego night, a true no-doubter that extended the Padres’ lead to two runs.
On the next pitch, Perdomo plunked Manny Machado in the back with a 98 mph fastball. Machado wasn’t pleased with the plunking in the slightest, slowly strolling down the first-base line and shooting Perdomo a displeased look. The umpiring crew convened and ejected Perdomo from the game without a warning. Shelton sprinted out to his pitcher’s defense and he, too, was ejected.
Through interpreter Stephen Morales, Perdomo expressed postgame that he was surprised that he was ejected from the game, but said he was OK with the decision, noting there was nothing he could do about it.
"I gave all my best to Soto, all my pitches,” Perdomo said. “He got the home run against me. And then against Machado, I just try to come in and went too far in and hit him by mistake."
Added Shelton: “They initially went to an ejection, which you don’t see a lot. Obviously that’s their judgment call. I didn’t agree with it.”
Rookie reaches base in first plate appearance
In addition to his athletic tag, Williams reached base in his first career plate appearance, drawing an 11-pitch walk against five-time All-Star Josh Hader. Williams, 24, attended high school at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego and grew up attending games at Petco Park.
“It was the field that we grew up seeing big leaguers play at,” Williams said. “It means the world to have so many family and friends. It was incredible. After the game, I saw them. They were screaming, hooting and hollering. It was just amazing.”