The Padres continued their dominance over the Pirates at PNC Park, scoring 35 runs over three games to sweep the free-falling Pirates. The Pirates lost their 10^th straight game and for the 11^th time in their last twelve games.

The Padres on the other hand, won their first series since they swept the Marlins in mid-July.

Mat Latos also won his first decision in six weeks, having gone the entirety of July without a win.

The Friars will hope to use their offensive momentum to their benefit as they travel to Citi field in New York to take on the Mets in a four game series starting Monday. Below is series recap against the Pirates.

August 5^th, 2010 Padres 15, Pirates 5

WP Aaron Harang (10-3) 5IP 13H 4R 4ER 3BB 1K 1HR

LP Jeff Karstens (8-6) 3.1IP 9H 9R 9ER 1BB 2K 1HR

The Padres hit a season high four homeruns, including Chase Headley’s grand slam that blew the game open with one out in the fourth, leading the Padres to an impressive 15-5 win Friday night at PNC Park.

Aaron Harang got plenty of run support to earn his tenth win, despite surrendering four runs on 13 hits in only five innings.

The Pirates jumped to leads of 2-0, and 3-2 only to have the Padres tie the next half inning. They took their third lead in the bottom of the third when Ryan Doumit homered to center.

But that was when the bottom fell out for Pirates starter Jeff Karstens. He gave up three consecutive singles to Will Venable, Kyle Blanks, and Luis Martinez to tie the game. After getting Harang to ground into a fielder’s choice, Cam Maybin singled to load the bases. Jason Bartlett then drew a nine-pitch walk to put the Padres ahead, 5-4 and bring up Headley. Headley hit Karsten’s first pitch over the wall in center for the Padres first grand slam of the season.

Kyle Blanks knocked in his first homer of the year in the fifth, a high towering shot that deflected off the foul pole in left field.

The Padres scored three more in the seventh starting with Will Venable’s RBI triple and finishing with Aaron Cunningham’s solo shot with two out.

Jesus Guzman hit his fifth round-tripper of the year, a two-run shot to left field in the eighth, to mercifully end the nights scoring with the Padres ahead 15-5.

August 6^th, 2010 Padres 13, Pirates 2

WP Cory Luebke (4-6) 7IP 5H 1R 1ER 0BB 9K 0HR

LP Pat Maholm (6-12) 6.2IP 10H 7R 7ER 1BB 5K 0HR

San Diego’s offense exploded for the second straight day, giving the Pirates their ninth straight loss, 13-2 on Saturday.  The Pirates lost by double-digits at home in consecutive games for the first time in the team’s 125 year history.

The Padres offensive outburst the first two games of this series (28) was just three run short of all the runs they scored at home for the whole month of April (31).

Kyle Blanks, who had been hitting a miserable .094 at the start of the series, paced the Padres with five RBIs on two hits, four of which came on a grand slam in the seventh, raising his average to .167

. Blanks also hit a drive to left field that got by former Padre Ryan Ludwick for a RBI triple in the second, giving the Padres a one run lead. Blanks would score on Rob Johnson’s sacrifice fly to put the Padres up 2-0.

Johnson would come through again in the fourth with a one out double, scoring Orlando Hudson and Aaron Cunningham. He would score to batters later on a routine grounder to shortstop that Maybin beat out with his exceptional speed for yet another infield single.

The Pirates had consecutive hits by Matt Diaz and Neil Walker, a double and a single, to pull Pittsburgh within four runs of the lead.

Chase Headley and Hudson each had RBI singles in the seventh before Blanks slam.

Jesus Guzman hit his 26^th RBI with a single in the eighth to cap a two-run inning. His 2-4 performance brought his average to .343 in 105 at-bats this season.

After walking in a run the night before, Erik Hamren gave up a solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth to Garrett Jones to cut the lead to 11 with the Padres up 13-2.

August 7^th, 2010 Padres 3, Dodgers 0

Mat Latos (6-11) 7IP 4H 2R 2ER 1BB 7K 0HR

Kevin Correia (12-10) 5.2IP 5H 4R 4ER 4BB 3K 0HR

Mat Latos dominated for seven shutout innings, having allowed only two hits while striking out seven before surrendering two singles to start the eighth. Chad Qualls then came in and gave up a three-run homer to Brandon Wood, to cut the Padres lead to 7-3.

The Padres gave Latos an early lead in the seventh when Logan Forsythe scored Orlando Hudson from third on a ground ball with the infield deep. Hudson reached third on Kyle Blanks double off the right field wall after his single to lead off the third. Four innings later with two outs and the bases loaded, Forsythe hit a grounder up the middle out of the reach of pitcher Kevin Correia, scoring two runs and prompting Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle to bring in a reliever. After intentionally walking to Luis Martinez to reload the bases to face Latos, Daniel McCutcheon threw a wild pitch, allowing Kyle Blanks to score.

The Padres added another in the seventh on Jason Bartlett’s RBI single, scoring Will Venable. Venable would hit a double the next inning, scoring two more Padres t put them up 7-0.

Josh Spence came into the ninth inning in a no-save opportunity with a four run lead. He retired all three batters he faced to close out the game with the Padres winning, 7-3.