Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan Reynolds swings duirng an at-bat in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 30, 2025, in San Diego.
When Robert Suarez threw a 99-mph fastball below the strike zone on a full count with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning, Henry Davis flipped his bat and started to take off his wrist protector in celebration.
Instead of Davis drawing a walk to drive in the tying run, home plate umpire Edwin Jimenez called a third strike. A stunned Davis threw his hands in the air in disbelief, and Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly was ejected for arguing the call with Jimenez.
The San Diego Padres escaped that jam to hold on for a 3-2 win Friday night at Petco Park, spoiling another quality start by Mitch Keller and preventing the Pirates from winning three consecutive games for the first time since September.
It marked the 11th time in Kelly's first 20 games as Pirates manager that the outcome was decided by one run.
Keller allowed three runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout over six innings for his ninth quality start in 12 outings this season. The Pirates right-hander has now made 11 consecutive starts without earning a win, the longest such stretch of his career.
Keller retired the first 11 batters faced before Manny Machado hit a two-out jam shot double in the fourth. Machado provided a screen then scored on Jackson Merrill's grounder to short that skipped past Isiah Kiner-Falefa to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
After allowing a single to Andrew McCutchen in the first, Nick Pivetta struck out the next six batters. Pivetta allowed two runs six hits while striking out eight without a walk over six innings.
The Pirates took a 2-1 lead in the sixth, which started with successive singles by Tommy Pham and Kiner-Falefa. With two outs, Bryan Reynolds hit a line drive to right field to score Pham and Spencer Horwitz hit a shot to the right-center gap to drive in Kiner-Falefa.
It didn't last long. Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the sixth, then scored from first on a double to the left field corner by Luis Arraez to tie the game. Arraez advanced to third on Machado's fly out to right, then scored on a grounder by Merrill for a 3-2 lead.
The Pirates loaded the bases against Jason Adam with two outs in the eighth when McCutchen doubled and Reynolds and Horwitz drew walks. That forced the Padres to turn to closer Suarez to face Davis, who worked a full count before going down looking.
Suarez retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 18th save, but the Pirates didn't go down quietly. McCutchen and hitting coach Matt Hague gave crew chief Andy Fletcher an earful in the visiting dugout as the umpires left the field.