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San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill said Friday night’s 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates was a great game.

Every game San Diego plays against Pittsburgh the last two years seems to fit into that category. With that outcome, the Padres have 10 straight wins over the Pirates since August 2024.

San Diego also has four victories in its past five games overall and will look to continue its winning ways on Saturday night in the middle game of the weekend series against Pittsburgh.

The Padres won Friday despite managing only three hits. But they ran the bases expertly during run-scoring rallies in the fourth and sixth innings. Manny Machado stretched a single into a double with two outs in the fourth, then hustled home from second on Merrill’s single that glanced off shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s glove and rolled into left-center field.

In the sixth, Fernando Tatis Jr. walked and was running on the pitch that Luis Arraez slapped down the left field line for a game-tying double. Then Arraez made third on Machado’s fly ball before getting a good jump on Merrill’s grounder to second and beating Adam Frazier’s inaccurate throw home.

“Four great plays on the bases helped us shake hands at the end of the game,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

San Diego will try to celebrate again Saturday with right-hander Dylan Cease (1-3, 4.58 ERA) getting the start. He received a no-decision in Sunday’s 5-3 win at Atlanta, his ninth straight start without a win. Cease gave up three runs on six hits in five innings with a walk and eight strikeouts.

In four career starts against Pittsburgh, Cease is 1-0 with a 2.87 ERA. He threw 91 pitches to get through four innings against the Pirates on May 2, permitting two runs on three hits to go with three walks and three punchouts.

Left-hander Bailey Falter (3-3, 3.47 ERA) gets the call for Pittsburgh on Saturday. He last worked on Sunday in his team’s 6-5 loss to Milwaukee, lasting 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs, four hits and three walks.

Falter has yet to record a decision in four career outings against the Padres, with a 3.38 ERA, although he dominated in a May 3 appearance. Falter yielded only one run on two hits in seven innings while walking two and fanning six in his team’s 2-1 loss.

While the Pirates have found more success with their bats in the last week, Friday night’s game provided more of the frustration that’s colored their efforts most of the year. They outhit the Padres 7-3 but struck out 14 times.

Henry Davis, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Frazier combined to go 0-for-12 with 10 strikeouts. Davis was called out on a questionable low pitch to strand the runners in the eighth inning, leading to the ejection of Pirates manager Don Kelly.

On the bright side, first baseman Spencer Horwitz delivered an RBI single that gave Pittsburgh a brief 2-1 lead in the sixth inning and worked a walk in the eighth to fill the bases before Davis’ strikeout. Acquired from Toronto in the offseason, Horwitz missed the first six weeks of the season after wrist surgery and is becoming a staple in the middle of the Pirates’ lineup.

“I just want to earn their trust, earn their respect, any way I can,” he said.

–Field Level Media