The San Diego Padres try to get back in this series and avoid the sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home on Wednesday.
The Pittsburgh Pirates go for the series sweep against the San Diego Padres in the season-series finale on Wednesday afternoon. Pittsburgh now leads this season series 3-2. The Padres won the first series in early April, 2-1. The Pirates came into this series after getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Padres came into it after sweeping the Minnesota Twins at home. Their fortunes have reversed so far through the first two games, with the Pirates winning the opener 3-2 in 12 innings on Monday, and then winning the series on Tuesday with a 1-0 victory. Pittsburgh is trying to keep its slim playoff hopes alive, and it’s helped that it’s beaten the Padres twice since it holds the third and final NL Wild Card spot. The Pirates are now 6.5 games behind San Diego for that spot with a 65-69 record, and they are 31-37 on the road. The Padres are 71-62 with a 40-28 record at home. San Diego needs to pick it up since the Arizona Diamondbacks are just one game behind their NL West rivals for that Wild Card slot. The Padres are the -136 favorites to avoid the sweep today. San Diego will try to do that by starting Randy Vasquez, who is 9-6 with a 4.19 ERA in 118 innings. The Pirates will counter with Bubba Chandler, who is 6-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 125.1 innings.
How to Watch Pittsburgh Pirates vs San Diego Padres Today:
Game Date: Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026
Game Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
LIVE SPORTS & TV WITHOUT CABLE
Watch now. No commitment. Cancel anytime.
Watch now
TV: MLB.TV – Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres (NEW), SportsNet Pittsburgh
Location: Petco Park – San Diego, CA
Live stream the Pittsburgh Pirates vs San Diego Padres game on Fubo: Start Watching Now!
The Pirates won the series on Tuesday night thanks in large part to Paul Skenes, who looked like his vintage self. Skenes didn’t earn the victory, but he went six scoreless innings, while only giving up three hits and striking out four batters. San Diego wasn’t able to collect another hit off the Pittsburgh bullpen the rest of the game. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they didn’t have much to show for it on offense either until the ninth inning. That was when Oneil Cruz hit a homer off of Mason Miller in the top of the ninth with two outs. Mason Montgomery ended up with his sixth save of the season without giving up a hit in the ninth. It was Miller’s first homer given up in more than a year. Lost in all of the shuffle was a great start from Michael King. The Padres starter went seven scoreless innings while giving up five hits and striking out seven.