Gorzelanny tames Padres, 4-1

The Pirates pitcher lowered his ERA to 2.39.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tom Gorzelanny overcame a shaky start and kept himself among the National League’s ERA leaders.

Gorzelanny, who entered the game third in the NL with a 2.51 ERA, lowered that number to 2.39 after overcoming a shaky first inning to work seven solid innings in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres Tuesday night .

Pirates outfielder Jason Bay, who kept his own hot streak going with two hits, including his eighth homer, acknowledged that the left-hander is Pittsburgh’s leader on the mound.

“I’m not going to say he came out of nowhere,” Bay said, “but he’s our bona fide guy right now. He’s our stopper. It’s nice to have that guy that goes out there every single day and you’re thinking he’s going to throw a gem and give you a chance to win.”

Josh Bard went 3-for-4 and Jose Cruz had two hits for the Padres, who had won three in a row and six of seven.

Four wins in five games

Gorzelanny (6-3) scattered seven hits while allowing the one run, striking out four and walking three as the Pirates won for the fourth time in five games. Gorzelanny allowed only eight earned runs in his six starts in May.

“I’m still a long ways from being established,” said Gorzelanny, who is in his second full season in the majors. “And I’m just going to go out there, do my thing, work hard. I know there’s still a lot of things I have to work on, especially with my pitch count.”

That negative aspect of his game was on display in the first inning, when Gorzelanny threw 34 pitches and loaded the bases before escaping unscathed.

“He showed tremendous signs of a very mature guy out there,” Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. “In the first inning of the game it looks like ‘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.”

The only run he allowed was a sacrifice fly by Termel Sledge that scored Kevin Kouzmanoff in the sixth. Other than the first inning, he twice stranded runners at second base. The last batter Gorzelanny faced was Adrian Gonzalez, with a runner on and two outs in the seventh. Gorzelanny struck him out with his 120th pitch.

Praising opponent

“You’ve got to give credit to their guy,” San Diego manager Bud Black said. “He wobbled a little bit but made a couple of pitches that get them out of the inning. A hit in that inning with a couple of guys on would have been nice but Gorzelanny hung in there and made some pitches.”

Jose Bautista helped the Pirates take an early lead against David Wells. He singled and scored on Xavier Nady’s single in the first, and doubled and scored on Freddy Sanchez’s single in the third to make it 2-0.

Bay hit his third homer in his past five games to answer San Diego’s run in the sixth — the first homer Padres reliever Cla Meredith had allowed in 21 appearances this season. Bay, who was named NL player of the week earlier Tuesday, is 12-for-24 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in his past seven games.