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Gorzelanny pitches Pirates past Padres

May 30, 2007 - 4:04 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Tom Gorzelanny and Jason Bay kept the Pittsburgh Pirates on a roll.

Gorzelanny battled through seven impressive innings and Jose Bautista started two early rallies as the Pirates posted a 3-1 victory over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday.

Jason Bay continued his hot stretch with his third homer in five games for the Pirates, who have won four of five after losing five straight.

"The biggest thing is that when I have been doing well this last little bit, we have been winning those games," Bay said. "A lot of times in the past, you go on a little hot streak and it doesn't mean as much when you're not winning. This has coincided with us winning so I think it means a little bit more."

Gorzelanny (6-3) has been outstanding all season, but the San Diego Padres had some chances on Tuesday. Rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out with the bases loaded to end the first and they failed to advance Josh Bard after he led off the second with a double. Furthermore, Marcus Giles was ejected for arguing after he struck out to end the frame.

In the third, Adrian Gonzalez doubled after two outs but was stranded.

"He showed tremendous signs of being a very mature guy out there," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "We wondered how far are we going to be able to get with him with 34 pitches in the first inning. He just kept battling; this guy finds ways. He kept getting better as the night goes on."

San Diego finally broke through in the sixth, when Kouzmanoff doubled high off the wall in right-center with one out and advanced to third on an infield single by Bard that glanced off the glove of shortstop Jack Wilson. Kouzmanoff scored on a sacrifice fly by Terrmel Sledge to cut the Pirates' deficit to 2-1.

Gorzelanny departed after seven innings, surrendering just the one run and seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. The 24-year-old has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of his 11 starts this season, including his last six outings.

"I need to keep getting better, keep going out there and doing my part," Gorzelanny said. "I'm still a long ways from being established, and I'm just going to go out there, do my thing and work hard. I know there's still a lot of things I have to work on."

"I can see why this guy has a two-and-a-half ERA, he's got good stuff," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "He's got a lot of things going for him.

Matt Capps and John Grabow logged the eighth and Salomon Torres the ninth for his 12th save in 15 chances.

Batting leadoff for the eighth straight game, Bautista singled and scored in the first inning against David Wells and doubled and scored in the third. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games.

"As long as I keep getting on base, I'm going to give these guys behind me chances to drive me in and that's going to create runs for the team. And the more we get, the better our chances to win, Bautista said. I just hope I can continue to do a good job at it."

The reigning National League Player of the Week, Bay drilled his eighth homer of the season and third in five games to right-center field in the sixth for a 3-1 edge. The righthanded slugger entered hitting .331 (48-for-145) in his previous 37 games, including 9-for-16 with eight RBI in his last four.

"I definitely go in streaks a lot of the time," Bay said. "You can never explain it. Sometimes you feel like it will last forever, this will be a great year and you'll have fun every day. But you can't so you relish it. You try to battle when you're not going well but right now over the last few games, things have been going a little but better for me so I'm just taking it as it goes."

The 44-year-old Wells (2-3) allowed two runs and eight hits in five frames. He entered the night having allowed just two runs and 12 hits in his last two starts covering 15 innings. He yielded a run and five hits in seven innings last Wednesday in a 2-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs.

"I'm not getting a whole lot of run support but at least I'm keeping the team in the ballgame to where we can get in a situation to go ahead if we have a big inning," Wells said.

It was just one of them nights when you pitch good enough to lose.

After Bautista led off with a single in the first, he advanced to second on a base hit by Freddy Sanchez. After Bay struck out, Xavier Nady singled to left, plating Bautista.

The Pirates doubled their advantage in the third, when Bautista led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Sanchez.