Wil Myers helped give the San Diego Padres an early lead and closer Brad Hand barely held onto it.
Myers homered Chidobe Awuzie Jersey , doubled and drove in three runs, and rookie Joey Lucchesi threw five scoreless innings to lead San Diego to a 4-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.
The Padres had to hang on after Hand got himself into trouble in the ninth and then got out of it to earn his 23rd save, thanks to some help from right fielder Hunter Renfroe.
Hand gave up two quick runs on doubles by Elias Diaz and Austin Meadows, and a triple by Gregory Polanco. The reliever got Jordy Mercer to fly out to Renfroe in shallow right field. Renfroe then caught pinch-hitter Jose Osuna’s foul ball near the seats and made a strong throw to hold Polanco at third. Hand struck out Starling Marte to end it.
”I don’t think he lacks for confidence,” Padres manager Andy Green said of Hand, San Diego’s only All-Star last year. ”He’s got those situations where he’s just got to finish his pitches better than he did tonight. He doesn’t rattle. You’ve got one of the faster runners in the game on third base with nobody out and a one-run game, and there’s not many pitchers that are getting out of that. He managed to get out of that.”
Said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle: ”It’s a life of a closer. If you look at the numbers against him all year, he’s tough to hit. He’s been very successful. … I thought some breaking balls got left over the plate.”
Myers, limited to 19 games this season due to injuries Jay Prosch Jersey , homered to right off Trevor Williams (6-6) with one out in the third, his second. Myers then chased the San Diegan with a two-run double to left to give the Padres a 4-0 lead with two outs in the fifth.
Myers returned June 21 after missing 47 games with a strained muscle in his side.
”He’s getting closer and closer and is looking more like himself,” Green said.
The manager was impressed with Myers using all fields.
”I feel good,” Myers said. ”It’s just one of those things where you constantly work on your approach.”
San Diego won for just the third time in 13 games.
Williams, a 2010 graduate of Rancho Bernardo High, was trying to become the second straight local product to beat his hometown Padres. On Friday night, Joe Musgrove, a 2011 graduate of Grossmont High in suburban El Cajon, threw seven scoreless innings in a 6-3 victory.
But Williams gave up four runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings Nolan Cromwell Jersey , with four strikeouts and two walks. He also allowed an RBI grounder by Freddy Galvis in the second that brought in Christian Villanueva, who doubled and advanced on Jose Pirela’s single.
Williams walked Austin Hedges and pinch-hitter Matt Szczur with one out in the fifth. They advanced on Travis Jankowski’s sacrifice bunt ahead of Myers’ big double.
”I kind of lost my fastball command in that fifth inning, and I had to rely on my off-speed pitches,” Williams said. ”I kind of put myself in bad situations. Two walks in a row are tough. You can’t really defend walks. Wil Myers is a good hitter and he guessed right on a heater up, and did well.”
Lucchesi (4-3) won for the first time since April 28. He was making his third start since missing five weeks with a strained right hip. The left-hander allowed one hit while striking out five and walking four.
San Diego’s Matt Strahm yielded a run and two hits in the sixth.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (5-6, 3.96 ERA) is 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA in two career starts against San Diego.
Padres: RHP Tyson Ross (5-5, 3.32) is scheduled for the Padres, who have won seven of his last nine starts.
Richie Incognito, the NFL offensive lineman who was once suspended for bullying a teammate Chris Harris Jr Jersey , was taken into custody Wednesday for psychiatric examination after an incident at a Florida gym.
Boca Raton police spokeswoman Jessica Desir said officers received a call Wednesday morning from a patron at Life Time Gym about a disturbance involving Incognito. He was taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows for involuntary psychiatric commitment for people seen as a danger to themselves or others. She did not have details about the disturbance.
The 34-year-old Incognito announced this year that he was retiring after 11 seasons in the NFL, the last three with the Buffalo Bills. The Bills released him from their reserved/retired list on Monday, leaving open the possibility he could sign with another team.
The four-time Pro Bowl selection has had a series of troubles. Incognito was among the players identified for targeting teammate Jonathan Martin in the Miami Dolphins’ bullying scandal during the 2013 season. The NFL suspended Incognito for the final half of the season and he was eventually released by Miami before being reinstated by the league the following offseason.
Incognito was out of football for 18 months before the Bills provided him a second chance by signing him to a one-year contract.
Incognito has been on a downward spiral for much of this offseason.
His closest friend on the Bills, center Eric Wood, is being forced into retirement after being diagnosed with a career-ending neck injury in January.
The Bills also asked Incognito to take a pay cut in restructuring the final year of his contract. Incognito initially backed the agreement by posting a note on Twitter saying he was ”thrilled to be returning this season and fired up to get back to work with my Buffalo Bills brothers.”
He, however, had a change of heart weeks later when Incognito abruptly fired agent David Dunn in a post on Twitter.
A week later, Incognito posted a series of vague Tweets which eventually led to him announcing his retirement. He included the accounts of the NFL Players’ Association and the union’s assistant executive director Michael Irvin Jersey , George Atallah, by posting a note that read, ”I’m done,” followed” by a winking emoji with its tongue stuck out.
He sent the same message in a text to The Associated Press later in the day.
Incognito continued posting a variety of tweets over the next five days before abruptly stopping. He hasn’t tweeted since posting his last messages on April 15, in which he said he was visiting his mother in New Jersey.
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