Bucs drop another with 7-3 loss to Padres

The Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a good start in the bottom of the first after RBI singles from Daniel Vogelbach and Diego Castillo, but they couldn’t sustain it as their starting pitching continued to struggle in a 7-3 defeat to the San Diego Padres.

Zach Thompson went four and one third innings, giving up four earned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three, including a two run homer to Ha-Seong Kim in the third to take the loss. Thompson moves to 0-3 on the season and now has a ERA ballooning over 10.00.

Pittsburgh’s bullpen, which has mostly shown stability so far this year, also gave up some real estate, with Aaron Fletcher, Heath Hembree, and Sam Howard all giving up runs. Howard’s was a solo shot to Jake Cronenworth.

Pittsburgh smacked 10 total hits, but they were all singles, and that’s simply not going to get it done when the staff is giving up runs.

As an aside, Bryan Reynolds continues to struggle at the plate, as another 0-for-3 outing has Pittsburgh’s best player hitting just .188 on the year with two homers and three RBIs. They’re going to need Reynolds to step it up if they want the offense to kick into gear.

Here’s a neat highlight in the field from Castillo, who was mostly known for his bat in the preseason, but shows his fielding chops in this highlight.

The Bucs dropped their fourth in a row to move to 8-12 on the season and will return to action tonight against San Diego.