SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wil Myers had an opposite-field single with no outs in the seventh inning to end Tyler Anderson’s no-hit bid and the San Diego Padres beat Pittsburgh 2-0 Monday night, the Pirates’ fifth straight loss.
Anderson (2-3) kept the Padres off-balance for six innings before they broke through in the seventh. Anderson issued a leadoff walk to Manny Machado before Myers singled to right field. Until then, Anderson had allowed only three baserunners, two on walks and one on his error in the fifth inning.
After Myers’ hit, Tommy Pham hit a sacrifice fly and Austin Nola hit an RBI single with two outs to chase Anderson. San Diego had just three hits.
“In that scenario, especially with the game being close like that, it’s finding ways to win, finding ways to get on base,” Myers said. “It’s shortening up your swing, shortening up your approach and that’s what we did there in the seventh inning. We were able to squeak out some runs there to win the ballgame.”
Anderson said the walk to Machado hurt because if first baseman Colin Moran hadn’t been holding him on, he likely would have gotten to Myers’ ground ball.
“I think he was just kind of diving out there a little bit,” Anderson said of Myers. “I think that if I don’t walk Machado to lead that off, that ball’s hit right to Moran. That was a good at-bat by him. There was a big hole over there with a guy on first and he was just trying to shoot it. He’s a good baseball player.”
“It would have been a lot more fun if I didn’t walk that first guy,” he added.
Manager Derek Shelton said Anderson was outstanding.
“Obviously that’s a playoff-caliber lineup and probably about as good a lineup as we’re going to face, especially for him with all the right-handers in there,” Shelton said. “He was outstanding. Six no-hit and he gave up the one ball off the end of the bat. Executed pitches all night job. He did an unbelievable job.”
The Padres needed a bullpen game because three starters are out with injuries or illness.
San Diego’s sixth pitcher, Mark Melancon, who was named the NL Reliever of the Month for April earlier Monday after converting all nine save chances, pitched the ninth for his 10th save. Starter Miguel Diaz, Craig Stammen, Austin Adams, Tim Hill (2-2) and Drew Pomeranz also contributed to the four-hitter.
Anderson walked Trent Grisham leading off the game but induced a double-play grounder from Fernando Tatis Jr., the first of 13 straight batters Anderson retired before Jake Cronenworth reached on Anderson’s fielding error in the fifth.
Third baseman Erik Gonzalez made a nice sliding, spinning stop of Myers’ grounder and threw a two-hopper to first for the first out of the fifth.
Former Pirates starter Joe Musgrove, who threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, struck out as a pinch-hitter in the third. Musgrove pinch-hit to save a position player because the Padres needed a bullpen day.
Anderson allowed two runs and two hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out five and walked three.
Anderson won a 5-1 decision against Musgrove on April 14 in Pittsburgh. He also won a 5-4 decision against San Diego’s Chris Paddack on Sept. 25 while with San Francisco.
Diaz started for the Padres and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings in his first appearance since June 14, 2019, at Colorado and his first start since June 21, 2017, at the Chicago Cubs. He struck out three and walked two. Diaz was invited to 2020 spring training but did not appear on the Padres’ 60-man player pool during the pandemic shortened season.
Rookie second baseman Kim Ha-seong made a nice diving stop of Michael Perez’s grounder and threw him out to end the second and strand two runners.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Reinstated RHP Michael Feliz (cracked right middle fingernail) from the injured list and optioned RHP Sean Poppen to the alternate site.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (1-3, 8.20 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday night in the middle game of the series.
Padres: Manager Jayce Tingler said he wasn’t ready to name a starter for Tuesday night. It could be RHP Dinelson Lamet, who is eligible to come off the injured list, or LHP Ryan Weathers, who came out of his last start with soreness in his left arm after just one inning Wednesday at Arizona.
