NATIONAL LEAGUE Jason Bay, Daryle Ward rally Pirates past Padres

The pair each hit two homers in the 9-7 comeback win over San Diego.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jason Bay might not have played if he were still sitting in the other dugout. Daryle Ward might not have played if Raul Mondesi still was with the Pirates.
Getting a chance to get their careers going with the last-place Pirates, Ward and Bay each homered twice and drove in three runs, and Pittsburgh overcame a six-run San Diego first inning to rally past the Padres 9-7 on Thursday night.
The Pirates' comeback -- they trailed 6-0 and 7-1 -- kept San Diego from its first road sweep this season and ended Pittsburgh's six-game home losing streak. The Pirates' 5-12 home record still is the majors' worst.
"That's a tough one, to get a six-run lead and not be able to hold it," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "We got outslugged. We kind of fizzled after the first two innings."
Came from Padres
Bay, dealt by San Diego to Pittsburgh in the Brian Giles trade in August, hit his first two homers of the season -- a two-run shot in the third against Ismael Valdez and a tying solo shot two innings later off Valdez that made it 7-7. Bay missed the first month of the season with a shoulder injury, a setback for a player still regarded as a top prospect.
Giles also homered, a solo drive in the second that represented the Padres' final run. He also drew one of the three walks by Pirates starter Ryan Vogelsong in the six-run first, which featured Ryan Klesko's two-run double and Miguel Ojeda's two-run single.
Pittsburgh's bullpen pitched five scoreless innings after Vogelsong was lifted, with Brian Boehringer going 11/3 innings, Mike Gonzalez 12/3 and Salomon Torres and Jose Mesa an inning each.
Mesa gets save
Mesa, cast off by the Phillies after losing his closer's job in September last season, needed just five pitches in the ninth to finish for his 12th save in as many chances.
Gonzalez (1-0), just up from the minors, got the decision in his first appearance of the season, striking out the side in the seventh.
Ward, called up from the minors only last week to replace Mondesi, whose contract has since been terminated, started the Pirates' rally with an RBI double in the first.
He then hit solo homers in the fourth and sixth, with the second homer making it 8-7. That drive came off Brandon Puffer (0-1), who also allowed Jason Kendall's run-scoring double in the eighth as the Pirates scored in all but one inning.
Bay denied being motivated by playing against his former team, saying, "If I'd have been bitter, it might be different, but I don't have any ill feelings. They were very classy to me. It's just a better opportunity for me here."
Valdez battered
Valdez gave up 10 hits and seven runs, five earned, in five innings and had a two-run throwing error on Vogelsong's sacrifice following singles by Tike Redman and Abraham Nunez in the second.
"I just threw the ball away," Valdez said. "It was a bad throw."
The Pirates played without shortstop Jack Wilson, pulled from their lineup about two hours before gametime with a sore left knee.
Wilson began the night tied for the NL lead with 54 hits and is hitting .344, 98 points above his career average.