Andrew McCutchen hits historic homer but Padres rally with 4-run 7th to beat Pirates

Andrew McCutchen moved into a tie with a franchise icon, but the Pittsburgh Pirates blew a chance to win successive series for the first time this season.

McCutchen got the Pirates going when he hit a two-run home run in the third inning — his 240th with the Pirates — to tie Roberto Clemente for third place among the club’s all-time leaders.

The San Diego Padres rallied by drawing four walks and three hits in a four-run seventh inning to pull away for a 6-4 win Sunday afternoon at Petco Park and clinch the three-game series.

The Pirates (22-38) split their six-game road trip, despite winning two of three at Arizona. They return home for a nine-game homestand at PNC Park that begins Tuesday against the Houston Astros, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins.

“It was a tough loss. It’s hard when you take a loss like that,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “You know, 3-3 on the road trip is good, but that close today to being 4-2. Yeah, it is frustrating.”

Manny Machado hit Andrew Heaney’s 1-1 slider 396 feet to left field for his seventh home run to give the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first inning. He later would drive in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

The Pirates answered in an historic way in the third. Oneil Cruz drew a full-count walk with one out, then stole second base to put a runner in scoring position for McCutchen. After fouling off four pitches, McCutchen crushed Randy Vasquez’s 2-2 curveball 365 feet to left field for his fifth home run of the season and 240th with the Pirates.

It marked back-to-back games with homers for McCutchen, who hadn’t gone deep since April 27 at the Los Angeles Dodgers. More importantly, it tied him with a legend, Clemente, for the third-most homers behind Ralph Kiner (301) and all-time franchise leader Willie Stargell (475).

Kelly said he gets chills thinking about the historic homer and the company McCutchen is keeping, calling it “iconic territory.”

“He’s hit some big home runs in his career for the Pirates and did it again today,” Kelly said. “He’s climbing up the ranks in Pirates history on a lot of different things. To tie Roberto, heck of an accomplishment for him.”

And the Pirates weren’t done.

Spencer Horwitz doubled and scored on a single by Ke’Bryan Hayes for a 3-0 lead in the third. Adam Frazier added another homer to lead off the fourth inning, sending a first-pitch cutter 373 feet to left-center to make it 4-0.

After singles by Tommy Pham and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Padres pulled Vasquez, who allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. Wandy Peralta walked Cruz to load the bases but struck out McCutchen and got Bryan Reynolds to ground out.

“Getting bases loaded there and not coming away from anything is tough,” Kelly said.

Heaney retired 13 consecutive batters before Luis Arraez hit a bloop double down the left-field line, then scored on Jackson Merrill’s double to the right-field corner to cut the Padres’ deficit to 4-2. That was it for Heaney, as Chase Shugart got pinch hitter Tyler Wade to fly out to right to protect the two-run advantage.

“It’s just getting back to what’s made me successful,” said Heaney, who allowed two runs on five hits and three strikeouts without a walk over 5 2/3 innings. “Not giving free passes. I’m going to give up lots of contact, so the less traffic there is the better results you’re going to get.”

Then the Pirates did just the opposite.

Kelly turned to Tanner Rainey in the seventh, saying he liked the matchup of his slider against the Padres’ Nos. 6-7-8 hitters. Instead, Rainey threw strikes on only nine of his 23 pitches, walking Xander Bogaerts and Jose Iglesias before surrendering a pinch-hit single up the middle to Elias Diaz that scored Bogaerts to make it a one-run game.

The Pirates replaced Rainey (0-1) by bringing in lefty Caleb Ferguson, who hadn’t allowed any inherited runners to score this season. Not only did the Padres take the lead, they padded it when Arraez singled to drive in the tying run and Machado followed with a deep fly to the warning track in center for a sacrifice fly to score Diaz and give the Padres a 5-4 lead.

Ferguson walked Merrill to load the bases, and Tyler Wade hit a soft grounder that Ferguson tried to catch behind his back only for it to roll past the mound and allow Fernando Tatis Jr. to score to give the Padres a two-run lead.

“The zone kind of escaped us there in the seventh,” Kelly said, “and it didn’t work out today.”

The Padres retired 16 of the final 17 Pirates hitters. After Jason Adam pitched a perfect eighth, Robert Suarez struck out Kiner-Falefa and Cruz to record his 19th save.

“Today was frustrating but find a way to move on, get back home and continue to build on what we’ve been doing,” Kelly said. “On the whole, 3-3 on the road trip. Wish it would’ve been more today, but it didn’t work out.”