PITTSBURGH (AP) - Gregory Polanco led off the seventh inning with a double and scored the go-ahead run on an error, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates over the San Diego Padres 5-4 Thursday night for their eighth win in nine games.
Polanco took third on Francisco Cervelli's deep flyball, then came home when rookie third baseman Christian Villanueva misplayed Corey Dickerson's two-out grounder.
Pittsburgh's Josh Bell and Sean Rodriguez each had two hits for the NL Central-leading Pirates.
Eric Hosmer drove in three runs for San Diego. Freddy Galvis had two hits before being ejected by home plate umpire Will Little after taking a called third strike from Michael Feliz to end the eighth inning.
Rookie Edgar Santana (2-0) retired the only batter he faced, getting Jose Pirela to ground out to end the seventh with a runner on second. He was credited with another win a day after notching his first major league victory against the Chicago White Sox.
Felipe Vazquez worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his ninth save in as many opportunities.
Matt Strahm (0-1) took the loss.
Both starters were chased in the fifth inning as both Padres rookie left-hander Eric Lauer and Chad Kuhl allowed four runs and six hits.
The Pirates tied the score at 4 on Bell's RBI single in the fifth. Hosmer hit a two-run double in the top of the inning.
The Padres opened the scoring with a two-run third as Travis Jankowski hit an RBI single and Hosmer drove into a run with a grounder.
The Pirates answered with three runs in the fourth. Dickerson doubled in a run, David Freese hit a sacrifice fly and Rodriguez capped the inning with an RBI double.
