San Diego’s Young baffles Pirates again

Khalil Greene hit a grand slam for the Padres in the eighth inning.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Chris Young dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates again, allowing four hits over seven innings in the San Diego Padres’ 9-0 victory Wednesday night.

Young, a former Pirates farmhand, walked one and struck out seven. Pittsburgh has managed seven hits in 232⁄3 career innings against Young (6-3).

Khalil Greene’s grand slam in the eighth inning gave San Diego a 7-0 lead. The Padres have won four of five and seven of nine.

The Pirates had won four of five.

In his two previous starts against Pittsburgh — both last season — Young took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. His no-hit bid June 4 at PNC Park lasted 5 1-3 innings and he allowed two hits in eight shutout innings. On Sept. 22, in San Diego, Young lost a no-hitter with one out in the ninth on Joe Randa’s two-run homer.

History of domination

Pittsburgh had 11 players on the roster who had faced Young before Wednesday, and they were a combined 3-for-49 (.061) against him. The Pirates went 4-for-24 (.167) against Young Wednesday.

The best chance Pittsburgh had to score was in the sixth, when Paul Maholm singled with one out and Jose Bautista followed with a double. But Young got Chris Duffy to foul out down the third base line and Freddy Sanchez to fly out to center.

The Padres took a 1-0 lead in the third after consecutive singles by Greene and Paul McAnulty off Maholm were followed by a sacrifice by Young and an RBI groundout by Marcus Giles.

Young came up with runners on second and third and one out in the fifth. A pitch after fouling off an attempted bunt on a squeeze play, Young smacked a line drive up the middle to score Kevin Kouzmanoff and make it 2-0.

Mike Cameron’s two-out single in the eighth scored Giles and ended Maholm’s night. Jonah Bayliss entered the game and walked two batters before Greene’s shot to straightaway center. It was the second grand slam of the shortstop’s career — the other on Sept. 17, 2005, against Washington — and second of the season for the Padres.

Cameron added a two-run double in the ninth.

Maholm (2-7) was charged with four runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks. The Pirates have won only three of his 11 starts this season.

Notes

Pirates OF Xavier Nady was given the night off despite hitting .391 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in his past 11 games. ... The Pirates have never won a series from the Padres at PNC Park.