This version of Joey Lucchesi could win a lot of games for the Padres one day.
He was pitch-efficient. He did not walk a batter for the first time season. He completed seven innings for the second time in his career.
He just needed a bit more help.
Lucchesi paid dearly for a fourth-inning mistake to Bryan Reynolds, a two-run homer that accounted for all of the Pirates’ runs off him in a 5-3 loss Friday night in front of 28,913 at Petco Park.
The 25-year-old left-hander struck out six, scattered five hits and threw 52 of his 77 pitches for strikes in his best start since throwing five shutout innings at the Diamondbacks in his second start of the year.