SAN DIEGO (AP) — It’s been nearly three years since the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a pitcher strike out 12 batters in a game.
That’s how good Jordan Lyles was Friday night, when he dominated his former team for seven innings and helped the Pirates to a 5-3 victory against the San Diego Padres. Rookie Bryan Reynolds hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the fourth.
“It was complete command from start to the end,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think he retired nine guys on three pitches or less. It was just a really well-pitched game. He just continues to show us good stuff. He’s building some street cred a lot of different places.”
Lyles struck out a career-high 12 while walking one and allowing one run and five hits. He struck out the side in the seventh.
“We stepped it up in the seventh. We were hitting our spots really well,” Lyles said. “We were on the same page and we were doing our thing.”
Reynolds homered to right-center with one out in the fourth off left-hander Joey Lucchesi (3-3), his second, for a 2-1 lead. Josh Bell was aboard on a single.
“I knew I got it pretty well but I didn’t know if it was going to get out,” Reynolds said.
He said Lucchesi’s fastball “was moving a lot. In my first at-bat he kind of showed me everything. Second at-bat I saw his changeup, curveball, whatever you want to call it. That let me get a good fastball to hit.”
Lyles (4-1) allowed Franmil Reyes’ 14th homer with one out in the first, and then didn’t allow a baserunner past first until the sixth, when he got into and out of trouble. Manny Machado extended his hitting streak to 10 with a single to right with one out in the sixth and advanced to third on Eric Hosmer’s hit-and-run single. But Lyles struck out Wil Myers and got rookie Ty France to fly out.
“You put yourself in a first-and-third situation, that’s when you need to score, that’s when you need to cash it in,” San Diego manager Andy Green said. “That changes the trajectory of the ballgame.”
Lyles pitched for the Padres for parts of the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
“We didn’t have great at-bats against him,” Green said. “It was good to see Franmil get one.”
Lucchesi allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked two.
After Reynolds’ homer, the Pirates added on with Melky Cabrera’s two-run double in the eighth and RBI singles by Cole Tucker and Colin Moran in the ninth.
San Diego rookie Ty France hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his second.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Placed RHP Trevor Williams on the 10-day injured list with a strain in his right side. Williams, who played at San Diego’s Rancho Bernardo High, came out of Thursday night’s game after just 3 2/3 innings. To take his roster spot, RHP Clay Holmes was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis for his second stint with the Pirates this season.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Montana DuRapau (0-0, 1.93) will be the opener Saturday night in his first big league start and fifth appearance. A 32nd round selection — the 971st overall pick — in the 2014 draft, he made his MLB debut on May 9.
Padres: Rookie LHP Nick Margevicius (2-4, 4.34) is scheduled to make his ninth big league start.
