The Pirates blundered their way to a 7-5, 10-inning loss to the Padres on Tuesday in a ridiculous mess of a game that they might have won, if only they'd wanted to.
A.J. Burnett gave up two runs in the first, but the Bucs cut the lead in half in the third, thanks in part to an error by Alexi Amarista. Burnett escaped bases-loaded situations in the third and fifth without allowing any runs, and in the sixth, the Pirates tied the game on a solo homer by Garrett Jones and an RBI double by Rod Barajas.
In the bottom of the inning, though, the Padres singled twice, then loaded the bases when Barajas couldn't handle Everth Cabrera's bunt. Then Jones misplayed a ball at first, allowing San Diego to score the tying run. Burnett managed to leave the bases loaded yet again after that, but the Padres took the lead the following inning on a sacrifice fly, then added an insurance run to make it 5-3 in the eighth when Clint Hurdle sent in his worst reliever, Chad Qualls.
Jones hit a dramatic two-run homer off Dale Thayer in the top of the ninth to tie the game, and then Jason Grilli made his way through the bottom half of the inning, getting some help from Andrew McCutchen, who made a great running catch in center field.
The Pirates failed to score in the top of the 10th, and then Hurdle inserted his second-worst reliever, Daniel McCutchen, who like Qualls had been added to the active roster earlier in the day in a pair of moves that saw the Pirates ship out two superior relievers in Kyle McPherson and Justin Wilson. McCutchen promptly allowed a walk, then hung a changeup for Chase Headley, who blasted it about 15 rows into the seats to end the game with a score of 7-5. Clint Hurdle's bullpen management was aggressively horrible; closer Joel Hanrahan never made his way into the game.
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