The Padres outlasted the Pirates in a fourteen-inning game, winning 2-1 to sweep the three-game series. The loss was the Bucs’ fifth in a row.
Things started well enough. The Pirates scored without a hit in the first after Omar Moreno and Tim Foli started the game with walks. Moreno went to third on a fly ball by Dave Parker and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bill Robinson.
And that was it. Starting with Parker’s fly, Padres’ starter Randy Jones retired 11 in a row, a stretch broken only by an error. The Pirates didn’t get a hit until Rennie Stennett led off the top of the fifth with a single, and he got thrown out stealing. Their best chance in regulation came in the seventh, when Phil Garner hit a one-out triple. After an intentional walk, though, Ed Ott hit into a double play. Parker led off the ninth with a single, but it didn’t lead anywhere.
Jim Rooker had a strong start for the Pirates. He didn’t allow a hit until Gene Richards led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. A sacrifice and a single by Dave Winfield followed, tying the game, 1-1. Rooker left for a pinch hitter in the seventh, having allowed just three hits. Enrique Romo followed and kept the score tied through the ninth, allowing just a harmless single.
The Padres had gone to Bob Shirley after batting for Jones in the seventh and Shirley allowed just one hit in the eighth through the tenth. Grant Jackson came on for the bottom of the tenth, but left after two out having walked two. Kent Tekulve fanned Gene Tenace to strand both.
The battle of the bullpens continued with Rollie Fingers and Jim Bibby. Fingers gave up a one-out double to Parker in the 11th, but Parker was thrown out trying for a triple. Fingers then left the bases loaded in the 12th. Bibby left with two out in the bottom of the 13th with two on, but Chuck Tanner went with John Candelaria, who got the last out.
Candelaria nearly got through the 14th as well. With two out, though, Foli booted an Ozzie Smith grounder. Dave Winfield walked and pinch hitter Barry Evans followed with a walkoff single.
The Pirates had only seven hits in the game, all by three players. Parker had three, and Garner and Stennett each two. Candelaria’s record dropped to 4-6 and the Pirates dropped to .500, six games out of first.
Next the Bucs head to Los Angeles. Bert Blyleven, Don Robinson and Ed Whitson will face Don Sutton, Bob Welch and former Pirate Jerry Reuss.
