Padres finish off sweep of Pirates at start of long trip

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 4, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — The San Diego Padres completed a sweep of a bad team on Sunday.

They finish a nine-game, 10-day trip next weekend against a horrible team.

It is on the bones of such clubs that good teams climb to the postseason.

So a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, which precedes three games in New York against the American League East-leading Yankees, was in some ways merely a matter of taking care of what should be taken care of.

It was also a step toward another goal the Padres set after starting the season 5-7 on the road.

“I think the thing for us right now is hopefully get back to home with a winning record on the road,” Manny Machado said late Saturday night. “You know, we haven’t really been playing really well on the road. We’ve been playing great at home in front of our fans. It’s a good start to this road trip. I think overall, we want to get back home over .500 or way above .500 a ways and put ourselves in a good spot on the road trip. We’re going to New York next. We’re going to Denver as well. We don’t play well there. So it’s a good road trip that we could do some really good things.”

The victory Sunday, which got them to 8-7 away from Petco Park, was built in the first two innings and brought home by Stephen Kolek and four relief pitchers.

Staked to an early four-run lead, Kolek worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his first major league start. He was pulled after issuing a one-out walk in the sixth inning. Jeremiah Estrada ended that inning with two strikeouts before Adrián Morejón worked the seventh, Wandy Peralta the eighth and Jason Adam the ninth to close out the Padres’ major league-leading eighth shutout.

The Pirates are scuffling along at 12-23, almost certainly headed to their 10th consecutive losing season.

The crowds are small at PNC Park, and they might come as much for the view of the Clemente Bridge and downtown skyline as for a team they booed a handful of times Sunday.

But the Pirates did seem to have one thing going for them Sunday, as Andrew Heaney was on the mound.

He had a 2.50 ERA and had allowed just a .181 batting average, both among the top five in the National League. He also had a 1.01 ERA in four career starts against the Padres, the last of those in 2022 with the Dodgers.

Things were different Sunday. Heaney did not make it through four innings. He allowed four runs in the first two innings and was at 100 pitches when he was pulled with two down and the bases loaded in the fourth.

Colin Holderman struck out Oscar Gonzalez to save Heaney from more damage. But the damage had already been done.

Heaney quickly dispatched Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez, but a double by Machado and single by Xander Bogaerts put the Padres up 1-0. They ended up loading the bases and making Heaney throw 30 pitches, as Luis Campusano and Gonzalez followed with walks before Jose Iglesias grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Heaney had to be back on the mound quickly, as Kolek got through a 1-2-3 first inning in nine pitches.

He was back out there for a while again, and this time was far more costly.

A three-run inning began with Elias Díaz hitting a high fly-ball to left field that sailed all the way over the wall, off left fielder Tommy Pham’s glove as he leaped and stuck it into the first row of seats.

Brandon Lockridge followed by grounding a double the other way just inside first base. After Tatis popped out, Luis Arraez beat out a grounder to shortstop. And after Machado struck out, Bogaerts lined a double down the left field line that scored both runners.

That gave Bogaerts his second three-RBI game in a span of five games after he had not had one since Aug. 11, 2023, a span of 163 games.

Heaney allowed just a two-out single in the third and got two outs to start the fourth before a single by Machado and walks by Bogaerts and Campusano ended his day.

____