PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Cronenworth homered, and Yu Darvish pitched six effective innings to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Kim hit a two-run home run in the second inning to pull the Padres into a 2-2 tie. Cronenworth then belted a solo shot in the seventh to finish the scoring.
Kim and Cronenworth both had two hits in helping the Padres to their fourth straight win and ninth in the last 11 games. Trayce Thompson hit a two-run single for San Diego.
Cronenworth is 8 for 24 with two home runs and a triple in his last seven games, lifting his batting average from .160 to .213. He was selected to the All-Star Game last year in his first full season.
“I’ve felt good pretty much all season, but I’ve had some (tough) luck, been hitting a lot of lineouts to center field,” said Cronenworth, who is 8 for 24 with two home runs and a triple in his last seven games, lifting his batting average from .160 to .213. “Now, I’m starting to find some holes and when you get a couple of hits, your confidence just grows.
“I’ve had stretches like this before, but they’ve been in the middle of the season, and you look up at the scoreboard and you’re still hitting .300. It’s tough to look up and see .160.”
Darvish (2-1) allowed three runs and eight hits while striking out five and walking one. He was struck on the right triceps by a line drive off the bat of Ke’Bryan Hayes in the fifth inning but stayed in the game.
“Normally, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about taking him out, but he really wanted to go deeper in the game,” first-year Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “The thing I’m learning about Yu real quickly is that he’s a tough guy.”
Taylor Rogers got the last…
Leave a Reply