Big hits.
Not a lot of hits. But a couple of the hits they needed.
Those were lacking on Monday and Tuesday. The Padres got them on Wednesday.
The Pirates did not.
Again and again, Padres pitchers escaped messes to preserve the slim lead they had been given early on, and they held on to win the finale of a three-game series against the Pirates 3-0.
“You get a couple guys on and you get the big two-out hit or you get the hit with the guy on second … those are big hits,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “And those are hits that we need to get the lead, to be able to use our bullpen and scratch out a win. Not all wins look pretty, and sometimes those are better wins than the other ones.”
San Diego, CA – August 26: Jake Cronenworth #9 of the San Diego Padres is about to be tagged out by Rafael Flores Jr. #43 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth inning at Petco Park on August 26, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
To be clear, these were not two offenses operating at their highest level.
The Pirates finished the series 2-for-30 with runners in scoring position after going 1-for-13 Wednesday. The Padres were 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position Wednesday and 4-for-25 in the series.
The Pirates won 3-2 in 12 innings on Monday and 1-0 on Tuesday. The four runs allowed by Padres pitchers were the fewest in a series loss by any Padres team since they allowed four runs while dropping two of three to the Braves in September 1992.
“Great games from our pitchers all (series),” Jackson Merrill said. “I feel like our pitchers did it all (series). It’s about the pitchers.”
At the start of Wednesday, the Padres stretched their scoreless streak to 14 innings before taking their first lead of the series in the second inning.
That is when Merrill doubled and scored on Luis Rengifo’s single. Merrill’s triple drove in Manny Machado from first base in the fourth. And Jake Cronenworth provided more cushion with an RBI double in the eighth.
And somehow, five Padres pitchers navigated a winding path through nine innings without Adrian Morejón or Mason Miller available to close out the game due to their recent heavy workload.
“We know after the game last night what we were gonna have today,” relief pitcher Kyle Hart said. “We know that there was a high chance we were going to have to pitch in situations we haven’t had to as much. And everyone down there was ready to go at any point.”
San Diego, CA – August 26: Manager Craig Stammen of the San Diego Padres walks back to the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park on August 26, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the end, Bradgley Rodriguez worked the eighth and ninth innings to earn the second save of his career.
Throughout, it was a whole lot of stress.
“Felt like we played the whole game with first and second, nobody out,” Stammen said.
Starting pitcher Randy Vásquez got out of that exact kind of trouble in the fourth. Hart got out of that same trouble in the sixth. Yuki Matsui got Griffin Canning out of the same trouble in the seventh. Rodriguez got out of the same trouble in the eighth.
It was about as tension-filled as a game in August can get.
Adding to the consequence: As the seventh inning was starting at Petco Park, the Diamondbacks were completing a 2-0 victory over the Cubs in Phoenix. So the Padres had to win in order to maintain their one-game lead in the race for the final National League wild-card spot with 28 games remaining.
“It was a super important outing,” said Vásquez, who earned his 10th win. “Obviously, we had to get one there.”
Vásquez, who earned his 10th win of the season, retired the first nine batters he faced for the second straight start. He had gotten seven groundball outs and been ahead against almost every batter to that point.
Then he lost his command, and he reverted to managing robust traffic on the bases.
He threw almost as many pitches in the fourth inning (27) as he had in the first three perfect innings combined (31). He threw more balls (14) than he had previously (nine).
But after a single and a four-pitch walk, he got the first two outs, issued a carefully pitched walk to Oneil Cruz and then struck out Nick Gonzales to leave the bases loaded.
Vásquez then breezed through the fifth inning on 10 pitches, retiring all three batters on groundouts.
Even though he was at 68 pitches, Stammen went to the left-handed Hart to face the two left-handed-hitting batters and switch-hitting Bryan Reynolds at the top of the Pirates order in the sixth. It was leadoff batter Spencer Horwitz and Brandon Lowe who began the trouble for Vásquez in the fourth inning.
They began the sixth against Hart the same way — with a single and a walk — before Reynolds lined a ball up the middle at 105 mph off his bat that Cronenworth dived to catch near second base. A grounder to shortstop by Esmerlyn Valdez got the second out at second base, and with runners at the corner, Cruz flied out to center field to end the threat.
Canning took over to start the seventh inning and walked a batter and hit a batter before getting a strikeout and being replaced by Matsui.
The lefty yielded an infield single to pinch-hitter Jared Triolo that loaded the bases before striking out Horwitz and Lowe.
It got wild again in the eighth, Reynolds and Valdez greeted Rodriguez with singles to left field before the rookie struck out Cruz and Gonzales and ended the inning by getting a fielder’s choice grounder from Jake Mangum.
Rodriguez worked a 1-2-3 ninth in 12 pitches.
“I think it just doesn’t matter what time of the game it is or whether guys are available or not,” Rodriguez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “It’s just all about being ready, and not just myself but all the other guys that are in the bullpen. All of us have to be ready when we’re called upon.”