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Pirates hold off Padres

May 3, 2011 - 7:04 AM San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Garrett Jones and Chris Snyder hit two-run homers in the first inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for a 4-3 victory over San Diego in the opener of a three-game series.

The Pirates, behind a good start from James McDonald, snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Padres.

San Diego put runners on first and third with two outs in the ninth inning, but Joel Hanrahan got Will Venable on a fielder's choice to end the game and get his ninth save.

McDonald (2-2) worked five scoreless innings before giving up Jorge Cantu's two-run homer in the sixth, his last inning. He yielded just five hits and one walk while striking out five.

Xavier Paul had two of Pittsburgh's six hits, and the Pirates improved to 6-4 in their last 10 games. They beat San Diego for the first time since September 18, 2009.

Jones and Snyder hit their homers off Padres starter Aaron Harang, who took the loss in five innings. Harang (4-2) settled down to yield five hits and two walks while striking out four.

"This was a tough one," Harang said. "We just got to keep going day-by-day."

San Diego had a two-game winning streak snapped, falling to 3-8 in its last 11.

Jones hooked Harang's 1-1 fastball inside the right-field pole with one out, while Snyder belted a 1-2 fastball over the wall in left field to make it 4-0.

"I think that whole first inning was big," Snyder said. "It definitely gave us some comfort."

Meanwhile, McDonald had little trouble setting the Padres down in the first four innings, allowing just three baserunners on two singles and a walk.

Brad Hawpe doubled to lead off the fifth and moved to third on a ground out, but he was thrown out at home plate trying to score on Eric Patterson's fly ball to right field.

On the play, Jones' throw was wide to the third base side, but Snyder fielded it cleanly and reached back into the base path to tag Hawpe as he slid.

The Padres finally scored on Cantu's two-run blast in the sixth -- he knocked a high 1-1 fastball into the balcony seats above left field -- but they went down in order in the seventh against Jose Veras, who replaced McDonald.

Ryan Ludwick hit an RBI single off Chris Resop in the eighth to pull within 4-3.

Hanrahan got two quick outs in the ninth, but Nick Hundley reached on a single to center and was replaced by pinch runner Chris Denorfia. Chase Headley grounded a ball into the hole on the right side that second baseman Neil Walker dove for, but couldn't field cleanly to put runners at the corners.

Venable grounded to short on the next pitch, and Ronny Cedeno tossed to second for the force out to end the game.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh won despite being out-hit, 9-6, and going just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position...San Diego was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven players on base.