SAN DIEGO -- The key to the Pirates' lineup had a big turn on Monday night. So the Bucs continued turning away from their dark spring and toward what they hope will be a bright summer.Jordy Mercer had four hits, drove in two runs and scored four others as the Bucs upended the Padres, 10-3, for their fourth win in five games of their swing through Southern California.Mercer? Key? 
Manager Clint Hurdle cast the slow-starting shortstop in that light a couple of days ago in Los Angeles, proclaiming that "if we get Mercer swinging the bat, our lineup will be the best we've had here."Mercer swung it in the series opener at Petco Park, notching his second-career four-hit game (Sept. 10, 2013 at Texas) to pump his average from .199 to .219. And he definitely tricked out the lineup, into its biggest production in a month.The 16-hit attack spurred by Mercer and Josh Harrison, who had three hits of his own for his fourth multihit game since the Bucs arrived in California, moved the Pirates within three games of .500, the closest they have been to break-even since April 22 (9-12).It also got paradoxical Charlie Morton his second win of the season. Morton was literally unhittable and hung eight strikeouts through four innings -- then barely made it through the fifth.Mercer began the scoring with a solo homer in the third off Tim Stauffer, the reliever pressed into starting duty by the injuries that have ravaged Bud Black's Padres rotation.Mercer's blow provided a glimpse into the versatility of the Bucs' lineup. He was the seventh player to connect for the team's last seven homers, following Gaby Sanchez, Pedro Alvarez, Russell Martin, Ike Davis, Andrew McCutchen and Harrison.Davis delivered another run in that third, lifting a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded for his 12th RBI in seven plate appearances in those situations. The total is tied for second in the Majors behind Cleveland's Michael Brantley, whose 16 have come in 12 plate appearances with the bases loaded.In the fourth, Mercer singled to scored Starling Marte and make it 3-0.After the Padres erased all but one run of that lead, Mercer was on the other end of a rally, singling off righty reliever Dale Thayer to start the sixth and eventually scoring on Neil Walker's single.In the seventh, Mercer's single helped set up a three-run put-away rally that featured Walker's two-run double. In the eighth, Mercer walked ahead of Sanchez's two-run pinch-double.Morton, the proverbial Ground Chuck, reverted to the traditional baseball derivative of his name, Uncle Charlie, the tag for a curveball. Morton's breaking stuff was wicked, a one-to-seven job diving under Padres swingsThrough three innings, Morton record seven of his nine outs on strikes. He picked up strikeout No. 8 in the fourth, one short of his career high.Without warning, the Padres lurched for runs in the fifth after having been held hitless through four. Alexi Amarista led off with a single and scored on a double by Everth Cabrera, who scored on Seth Smith's single.San Diego would go on to load the bases, with two outs, before Morton got his biggest out, the one he needed to qualify for the victory: He struck out pinch-hitter Tommy Medica to end the fifth, while also matching his personal career high of nine whiffs for the third time.Tom Singer / MLB.com
Manager Clint Hurdle cast the slow-starting shortstop in that light a couple of days ago in Los Angeles, proclaiming that "if we get Mercer swinging the bat, our lineup will be the best we've had here."Mercer swung it in the series opener at Petco Park, notching his second-career four-hit game (Sept. 10, 2013 at Texas) to pump his average from .199 to .219. And he definitely tricked out the lineup, into its biggest production in a month.The 16-hit attack spurred by Mercer and Josh Harrison, who had three hits of his own for his fourth multihit game since the Bucs arrived in California, moved the Pirates within three games of .500, the closest they have been to break-even since April 22 (9-12).It also got paradoxical Charlie Morton his second win of the season. Morton was literally unhittable and hung eight strikeouts through four innings -- then barely made it through the fifth.Mercer began the scoring with a solo homer in the third off Tim Stauffer, the reliever pressed into starting duty by the injuries that have ravaged Bud Black's Padres rotation.Mercer's blow provided a glimpse into the versatility of the Bucs' lineup. He was the seventh player to connect for the team's last seven homers, following Gaby Sanchez, Pedro Alvarez, Russell Martin, Ike Davis, Andrew McCutchen and Harrison.Davis delivered another run in that third, lifting a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded for his 12th RBI in seven plate appearances in those situations. The total is tied for second in the Majors behind Cleveland's Michael Brantley, whose 16 have come in 12 plate appearances with the bases loaded.In the fourth, Mercer singled to scored Starling Marte and make it 3-0.After the Padres erased all but one run of that lead, Mercer was on the other end of a rally, singling off righty reliever Dale Thayer to start the sixth and eventually scoring on Neil Walker's single.In the seventh, Mercer's single helped set up a three-run put-away rally that featured Walker's two-run double. In the eighth, Mercer walked ahead of Sanchez's two-run pinch-double.Morton, the proverbial Ground Chuck, reverted to the traditional baseball derivative of his name, Uncle Charlie, the tag for a curveball. Morton's breaking stuff was wicked, a one-to-seven job diving under Padres swingsThrough three innings, Morton record seven of his nine outs on strikes. He picked up strikeout No. 8 in the fourth, one short of his career high.Without warning, the Padres lurched for runs in the fifth after having been held hitless through four. Alexi Amarista led off with a single and scored on a double by Everth Cabrera, who scored on Seth Smith's single.San Diego would go on to load the bases, with two outs, before Morton got his biggest out, the one he needed to qualify for the victory: He struck out pinch-hitter Tommy Medica to end the fifth, while also matching his personal career high of nine whiffs for the third time.Tom Singer / MLB.com
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