Vazquez blows Pirates’ third straight loss

Felipe Vazquez stood on the mound, bent over with both hands on his knees, when Clint Hurdle stepped out of the third-base dugout at PNC Park and raised his right hand to signal for a pitching change. Vázquez, the Pirates' closer for the past 11 months, entered in the ninth inning with a one-run lead, only to allow three runs to the Padres and throw 24 pitches without recording an out.

Jordy Mercer committed a throwing error. Vázquez rolled his ankle trying to field a bunt. Josh Harrison didn't cover first base on the same play, allowing another run to score. The disastrous inning resulted in an 8-5 loss in the series finale Sunday, as the Pirates dropped three games in a row to the last-place Padres.

In addition to the myriad of mistakes in the ninth, the Pirates, now 26-20 and in a three-way tie for second place in the Central Division, again failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

"Today was kind of a rough day," Vazquez said afterward. "I've been doing good for two months, so I'll come back on Tuesday and try to do the same thing for another two months."

Although the offense overcame a three-run deficit, it stranded 12 on base and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Josh Bell and Corey Dickerson went a combined 0 for 10, and the Pirates stranded five over the final two innings, including the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

They still came within three outs of a 14th comeback win. With the Pirates trailing by three runs, Austin Meadows, starting his third consecutive game in center field, hit a two-run homer — his first in the major leagues — in the bottom of the sixth and Mercer made it back-to-back home runs with a solo shot to left, tying the score 4-4.

Harrison gave the Pirates the one-run lead in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Sean Rodriguez after they loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. Gregory Polanco, who had two hits in 11 at-bats during the series, stranded two when he flied out to third baseman Christian Villanueva in foul territory.

The Pirates went a combined 4 for 29 with runners in scoring position and left 29 men on base over the final three games of the series.

"Yeah, we had a rough ninth inning," Clint Hurdle said. "We had a rough ninth inning. Defensively we didn’t help ourselves. Tough to give a team extra outs, especially in the ninth inning."

Hurdle was referring to the Pirates being swept in four-game series by the Phillies and Nationals, although they responded both times with a series win. This loss, though, is potentially their worst of the season. Vazquez had been scored upon only once in his previous 17 games, owning a 0.50 ERA with 20 strikeouts to four walks in 18 innings. In addition, the Pirates were 18-0 when leading after the seventh inning.

Vazquez had also blown only two saves since the beginning of last season and has been dominant as of late, striking out the side against the Padres to close out a win Thursday night. But he quickly allowed a leadoff single in the ninth on a fastball over the plate.

Villanueva followed with a line-drive single to center on a changeup out of the strike zone. Corey Spangenberg, a pinch-hitter, twice unsuccessfully tried to bunt both runners over before fouling off four consecutive pitches. Then, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, he hit a ground ball to Mercer, whose throw to second hit off the tip of Harrison's glove and rolled into shallow right field, allowing the tying run to score:

"It was a bad throw," Mercer said. "That's it."

Harrison admitted he was surprised by the mishap, although he didn't blame Mercer: "Yeah, but also given that … he’s human," Harrison said. "The game speeds up. Guy can run. He’s aggressive, man. We wanted to turn it. Tipped off my glove just enough. At the end of the day you give that to him nine more times he’s going to get it."

Vázquez then rolled his ankle trying to field a high one-hop bunt from Freddy Galvis, and Harrison wasn't quick enough to first to cover, allowing a second run to score. Vazquez sprinted toward home to try to field the bunt, only to have to backtrack to collect the ball:

"That’s just a tough play," Harrison said. "We’re in and that bunt hopped up high. At the end of the day it’s a safety squeeze. … It doesn’t make or break the win. If I’m there I think he’s still safe. It’s one of those things that it was a bunt that wasn’t a normal bunt. It bounced high."

Following a double steal, A.J. Ellis added a two-run single to right-center, giving the Padres the 8-5 lead.

Vázquez was then pulled from the game, although he expressed confidence his ankle was "feeling fine" following the loss.

The Pirates entered the game ranked 24th in the majors in defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs, but it was an uncharacteristic mishap from a veteran. In addition, the Pirates ranked second in the National League in batting average with runners in scoring position, yet failed to capitalize on opportunities in the final three games of the series.

"I think a loss is always kind of hard to swallow," Harrison said. "At the end of the day we had a chance to win. Baseball — you have to play 27 outs. Sometimes more than that. We’ll take tomorrow, off-day, come back ready to go in Cincinnati."

1. Meadows hits first homer, but he won't stick around for long.

Meadows looks like he belongs in the major leagues. He went 5 for 11 in three games of the series and played well defensively in place of Starling Marte, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday. The 23-year-old singled twice in his debut and stole second base. His finest work, though, came in the sixth inning, when he turned on this 2-2 curveball from Jordan Lyles:

"When I hit it, it was crazy," Meadows said with a laugh. "I knew I hit it well. I knew it was going to go out just by the way it was carrying. Just a lot of emotions running around the bases, the fans cheering. It was a special moment."

He went 3 for 4 in the series finale, hitting a two-out single in the second inning and contributing in the eighth with one of the Pirates' two singles before Harrison's sacrifice fly. Although Marte could return as soon as Friday, Hurdle showed he's not afraid to start Meadows against both right- and left-handed pitchers.

Despite his success, Meadows is unlikely to stick around for long, though. Neal Huntington didn't rule out keeping him as a fourth outfielder when Marte returns; however, he also pointed to the Pirates' organizational philosophy of giving young players everyday at-bats rather than a bench role in the major leagues.

Meadows' back-to-back injury-shortened seasons prior to this year don't help his cause, either. Meadows was limited to 72 games at Triple-A last season because of hamstring and oblique injuries. He struggled when he was on the field, batting .250/.311/.359 with 19 doubles and four home runs.

"Theoretically, it's a great question," Huntington said when asked prior to first pitch if Meadows could stay in a bench role. "Practically it's a question we'll wait to answer. There's a lot of baseball between now and when Starling is ready to go, and hopefully Starling is ready to go when he's eligible to come off the DL. Philosophically, we like young players to continue to play when they have growth and development opportunities, and we'll see where we are at that point in time."

2. Harrison a catalyst batting leadoff. 

The Pirates didn't receive enough production from their leadoff hitters while Harrison was on the disabled list. Adam Frazier batted only .238 in 23 games batting atop the lineup, and Sean Rodriguez had five hits in 25 at-bats in the leadoff spot. The situation became so dire that Hurdle used Max Moroff there for three games in one week.

With Harrison back, they've regained the catalyst they've been missing. He has slashed .299/.336/.442 in his career in 243 games batting leadoff, and it didn't take him long to make an impact, despite playing in only three games for Double-A Altoona during his rehab assignment.

Harrison, activated from the 10-day disabled list earlier Sunday after breaking a bone in his left hand on April 15, singled to lead off the first and scored after leading off the second inning with a double to left-center. He also legged out an infield single in the fifth, although he was stranded at first.

"Always good to get back in the flow of the game and be presented with any and every opportunity I’m going to be presented with that’s kind of hard to simulate in rehab games," Harrison said.

The Pirates were two games under .500 with Harrison out of the lineup, and Frazier's defensive struggles forced Hurdle to deploy Rodriguez as a defensive replacement late in games. That can negatively impact how he uses a bench. Now, with Harrison back, the Pirates shored up their defense, and Hurdle was quite pleased with what he saw Sunday.

"To come back, square balls up, see balls like that, yeah, like I said, I’ve never gone on a rehab assignment like that, but more often than not [it's difficult to regain timing]," Hurdle said. "We’ll see where it goes from here, but it was a really good bounceback game in his first game back."

3. 'Few pitches' cost Williams.

Trevor Williams, making his 10th start this season, allowed four earned runs over six innings; however, it was another strong outing. He didn't walk a batter and threw 55 of his 82 pitches for strikes. The right-hander also struck out five and retired the first 10 batters he faced.

Williams relied on his four-seam fastball, throwing the pitch around the zone to complement his changeup, slider and curveball. The strategy was effective until he threw a few fastballs over the plate. Villanueva, a 26-year-old rookie, hit a two-run homer to left with two outs in the fourth inning when Williams threw a four-seam fastball low and over the middle of the plate.

Williams then allowed back-to-back hits in the fifth, including a double by Ellis on an elevated four-seam fastball. The Padres scored a run on a ground-ball out before Lyles laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt, and Williams chose to throw home, where Ellis beat Cervelli's tag for a 4-1 Padres lead.

"It was missed location on my part," Williams said. "I didn’t execute. Didn’t execute good pitches where we could have. … It was really just a few pitches that got away from me today that cost us four runs."

He has pitched through the sixth inning in seven of his 10 starts, and the Pirates have lost only four of those games. Williams entered the game with the 10th-lowest ERA (3.43) in the National League over the last calendar year. He's been the most consistent starter on the staff, despite not winning a spot in the rotation out of spring training last year.

"A couple misfired fastballs that hurt him," Hurdle said. "He still finds ways to mix his pitches. Elevated the fastball. I think the mix-and-match kinda helped, but the poise and competitiveness he has always comes into play."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY