Rookie Gonzales homers and triples in home debut as Pirates beat Padres
Nick Gonzales homered and tripled in his first home game at PNC Park, and the Pittsburgh Pirates broke out of an offensive funk to drill the San Diego Padres 9-4 on Tuesday night.
The Pirates won for just the second time in 14 games behind Gonzales, the seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft who was called up during a brief road trip to Miami last week.
The 24-year-old infielder certainly looked comfortable in his new digs. He tripled off the right-field wall in the second inning against spot San Diego starter Reiss Knehr (0-1) for his first major league hit. He smashed a 442-foot solo homer to the bushes beyond the center-field fence in the seventh.
Led by Gonzales, Pittsburgh emphatically ended two weeks of offensive futility against the struggling Padres, who have dropped six of eight.
Carlos Santana had three hits, including his seventh homer of the season. Andrew McCutchen collected three singles, rookie Henry Davis added two hits and outfielder Jack Suwinski ended an 0-for-29 funk by hitting a solo homer in the third.
Rich Hill (7-7) put together six steady innings in the rain to improve to 7-1 in his last 11 starts against the Padres. Roansy Contreras worked three innings for his first major league save.
Ha-Seong Kim had three hits and drove in two runs for San Diego. Nelson Cruz and Brandon Dixon added two hits each but the Padres began a six-game road trip through Pittsburgh and Cincinnati with a thud.
San Diego left starting pitcher Yu Darvish back home due to an illness, giving Knehr his first major league start since 2021 on short notice. Knehr, who had unimpressive numbers in three relief appearances this season, ran into trouble in the second against an offense that was the main culprit of a 1-12 freefall that dropped the Pirates from first to fourth in the NL Central.
Gonzales provided a spark when he hit the ball off the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right to collect his first hit and RBI. He then dashed home on a single by McCutchen to tie the game at 3.
The Pirates took control in the third when Santana and Suwinski began the inning with back-to-back homers to give Pittsburgh a lead it would not give back.
Hill wobbled in the sixth but steadied himself by getting Trent Grisham to ground out with the tying run on second. The Pirates added a pair of insurance runs on RBI singles by Davis and Castro in the bottom of the inning before Gonzales provided an exclamation point leading off the seventh.
HAMLIN'S HOMECOMING
Buffalo Bills defensive back and Pittsburgh native Damar Hamlin mingled with the Pirates — swapping jerseys with closer David Bednar — before throwing a ceremonial first pitch.
Hamlin, who is back practicing with the Bills after nearly dying on the field in Cincinnati in January, has the Pirates "P" logo tattooed on the left side of his neck.
"I feel like the biggest staple to our city is that 'P', that Pirates logo," Hamlin said. "So that's everything to (me). I've got it inked on me forever. Just to be home and to be able to throw out the first pitch is a kid's dream. I feel like a kid on Christmas here today."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: Placed reliever Steven Wilson on the 15-day injured list with a strained right pectoral. Manager Bob Melvin said Wilson sustained the injury while pitching a scoreless inning against Washington on Saturday. The club promoted reliever Drew Carlton from Triple-A El Paso to take Wilson's spot in the bullpen.
Pirates: RHP Colin Holderman (right wrist) threw 25 pitches during live batting practice. Holderman is eligible to come off the IL on Friday.
UP NEXT
The series continues Wednesday when San Diego's Blake Snell (4-6, 3.22 ERA) gets the start against Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller (8-3, 3.45 ERA).
