Pirates blow late lead, fall to Padres; McCutchen ties Clemente

SAN DIEGO — This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW.com.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (22-38) ended their six-game road trip at Petco Park on Sunday in a 6-4 loss to the San Diego Padres (33-24).

The Buccos are now 5-5 in their last 10 games after blowing their 18th lead of the season, which is tied for third in MLB.

After a stellar month of May, posting a 2.96 ERA, Andrew Heaney entered June coming off of a rough, snakebit performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, he was able to turn that around with a solid bounce-back performance against the San Diego Padres, going 5 2/3, allowing five hits and just two runs, while striking out three.

At first glance, it seemed as if the venom Heaney took from the snakes carried onto his start in San Diego, allowing a first-inning home run to Manny Machado. However, that lead lasted for about five minutes, when Randy Vasquez took a beating on the mound.

The offense got off to a hot start in the third, posting three runs thanks to a history-making two-run home run from Andrew McCutchen. With that cannonball, he tied Roberto Clemente for third on the Pirates’ all-time home runs list with No. 240.

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