Yes, the Padres lost 4-3 to the Buccos last night, snapping a 9-game winning streak against the Pirates dating back to 2009. Yes, Aaron Harang had his second straight dicey outing, giving up two first inning home runs to the likes of Chris Snyder and Garrett "Improved Plate Discipline" Jones. And yes, the Padres only went 1-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding 7 runners on base and having a runner thrown out at home. But I did see one thing I liked in last night's game.
In the top of the 9th with the Padres protecting a 1-run lead, Bud Black called Luke Gregerson out of the pen to replace Ernesto Frieri, who had walked three of the last 4 batters (the bases weren't loaded because in between those walks Nick Hundley threw out Lyle Overbay trying to steal, in my view not even the best thing Nick did in the inning.) Luke promptly walked the first batter he faced and threw a bad looking ball to the next batter, Steven Pearce. It was then that Nick Hundley stepped up. He walked out to the mound, said a few words to Luke, patted him on the ass, and went back to his spot behind the plate.
Luke struck out Pearce in three more pitches. Then he got McCutchen to ground out to end the inning.
So yes, the Padres didn't win the game, but I liked what I saw in the interaction between Nick and Luke. That bodes well for Nick's increasing ability to handle the Padres pitching staff.
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