Gregory Polanco homers off Joe Musgrove as Pirates beat Padres

Gregory Polanco was scuffling so much at the plate that the Pittsburgh Pirates gave their right fielder successive days off against the San Diego Padres to work on the timing of his swing.

Polanco returned to the lineup just in time.

The Pirates bet on a batting order filled with left-handed bats to counter righty Joe Musgrove after their former teammate tossed a no-hitter, and Polanco pounded a fastball for his first home run of the season to spark a 5-1 victory Wednesday night before 5,228 at PNC Park.

“It means a lot because he’s my friend, but not when we’re out there competing,” Polanco said. “He was coming off that no-hitter, so this means a lot.”

The Pirates (5-7) won their second consecutive game and fourth in five games after a six-game losing streak. It proved to be a breakthrough performance for Polanco, who said he changed his stance so he’s not hanging his front foot and hitting off his tiptoes.

“I’m trying to get my foot on ground on time,” Polanco said. “Just to be on time. Just trying to put a good swing on it.”

Batting .138 (4 for 29) with a double and twice as many strikeouts (12) as walks (six) through his first nine games, Polanco reached base in all four plate appearances Wednesday. He followed the homer in the second with a single in the fourth and drew walks in the sixth and eighth to boost his batting average to .195.

“We had talked about him being inconsistent with his timing. His timing was definitely better,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I mean, obviously, he had the homer early on, had the base hit but he was in the middle of all of our runs being scored. Getting on base there late to help us extend the lead. Very quality at-bats by Greg.”

The homer was the first run allowed this season by Musgrove (2-1), who threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on Friday night at Texas. Musgrove’s bid to become the second player in MLB history pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters, a feat only accomplished by Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, was broken up when Bryan Reynolds hit a two-out flare to shallow left field in the first.

In the second, Polanco crushed a 1-1 fastball 395 feet onto the AHN tarp covering the right-field seats. It was Polanco’s 47th career homer at PNC Park, tying him with Craig Wilson for fifth among Pirates, behind Garrett Jones (51), Jason Bay (61), Pedro Alvarez (62) and Andrew McCutchen (92).

Anderson (1-2), by contrast, cruised through the first inning on his way to earning his first win as a Pirate. A day after Chad Kuhl labored through a 37-pitch first inning, Anderson retired the side on seven pitches by inducing two grounders around a fly ball.

“Anytime you can get a quick first, that’s great,” Anderson said. “I gave up (a run) in the first last time, but if you can go out and have a good first inning, I just feel like it sets a good tone for you, a good pace. Start throwing strikes and start getting ahead.”

Although he allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in each of the next five innings, Anderson didn’t give up a run until the sixth. In the second, he got Victor Caratini to ground into a fielder’s choice to strand a runner at second. In the third, Kevin Newman made a nice backhand stab on a Musgrove grounder up the middle and a spinning throw that Colin Moran couldn’t corral. Newman then turned a double play on Trent Grisham’s grounder against the shift.

The Pirates got to Musgrove in the fourth as Newman drew a leadoff walk and Polanco followed with a liner off first baseman Eric Hosmer’s glove. But Dustin Fowler popped out to third, Michael Perez struck out and Anderson grounded out to strand both runners.

The Padres pinch hit for Musgrove, ending his night after allowing four hits and two walks with six strikeouts on 81 pitches. Pierce Johnson replaced Musgrove, and Adam Frazier (3 for 5) led off the bottom of the fifth with a double down the right-field line and advanced to third on Phillip Evans’ groundout to short. Moran singled through the middle to score Frazier for a 2-0 Pirates lead.

Anderson walked Manny Machado to start the sixth and was replaced by Duane Underwood Jr. after getting Hosmer to ground into a fielder’s choice. Tommy Pham singled to right off Underwood, scoring Machado to cut the Pirates’ lead to 2-1. Underwood recovered to strike out Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth, both caught looking.

It marked Anderson’s third consecutive start in which he completed five innings — the only Pirates pitcher to do so this season — and was his best of the season. In 5 1/3 innings, he allowed one run on four hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts.

“Tyler Anderson was outstanding. That’s a good lineup, a hard lineup to navigate through for a left-hander, and he did a hell of a job.”

Underwood got a double play to end the seventh, and Sam Howard pitched a 1-2-3 eighth against the top of the Padres’ order.

The Pirates scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, as they loaded the bases against Austin Adams. Polanco drew a walk, Dustin Fowler singled to right and Michael Perez was hit on the hip by a pitch. Erik Gonzalez answered with a bloop to shallow right that a diving Profar couldn’t catch, scoring Polanco for a 3-1 lead.

Frazier followed with a two-run single to left to make it 5-1. The Padres turned to righty reliever Dan Altavilla, an Elizabeth Forward alum, who struck out Reynolds for the final out.

In the ninth, Chris Stratton gave up a single before getting the Padres to ground into a game-ending double play.

“That’s exactly what we needed, and that’s a really good outing by our bullpen,” Shelton said, noting the 8-4 win in four-plus hours Tuesday night. “We talked about it being an ugly game. (This) was a clean game. We did a really nice job all the way around.”