By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
Final: Pittsburgh Pirates 7, Philadelphia Phillies 4 ❖ Attendance: 35,802
Pittsburgh, PA — At first, it was a back and forth battle on the offensive front, with frequent switches between the Philadelphia Phillies (45-54) having a one run lead and it being a tie game. But in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Pittsburgh Pirates (50-47) took a lead that the Phils ultimately couldn't catch. It's not that the Phillies weren't hitting; for once, they were actually getting hits. The problem was a lack of clutch hits. Over the course of the game, fourteen runners were left on base. Twice, the Phillies were unable to capitalize with the bases loaded. It wasn't enough to score a few runs. The Phils were unable to take advantage of the many opportunities they had to break the game wide open.
After three hit batters last night, two more Phils, Cameron Rupp and starter Aaron Nola, were hit by pitches during today's game. The big concern was Rupp, who was hit on the ear flap of his helmet and probably would have been hit in the face or head if he hadn't turned at the last second. Rupp was immediately removed from the game and during the broadcast, the commentators reported that he had passed all of the concussion tests.
WP: Juan Nicasio (8-6, 5.07 ERA) ❖ LP: Aaron Nola (5-9, 4.75 ERA) ❖ SV: Mark Melancon (29)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
Game Summary
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| PHI | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| PIT |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 8 | 2 |
The Phillies got off to a hot start against Pirates started Tyler Glasnow. Center fielder Odubel Herrera was walked with one out and quickly stole second base. He moved up to third on a single by Andres Blanco. First baseman Tommy Joseph smacked a single into right field to score Herrera and allow Blanco to move up to third. Unfortunately, Cameron Rupp grounded into a double play and the Phils were unable to capitalize further.
The Pirates started a two out rally in the bottom half of the inning, starting with a double by Andrew McCutchen. 2016 All-Star Starling Marte singled to left to score McCutchen and tie the game. Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola was able to strike out David Freese to get out of the jam.
The tie wouldn't last for long. In the top of the second, Freddy Galvis reached on an error to put a runner on first with one out. He stole second and that ended up being an important play, as he ended up scoring on a single by Cesar Hernandez. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt led to a strike out of Nola, Hernandez stole second to put another runner in scoring position. However, Peter Bourjos struck out to end the inning and the Phillies left another runner on base.
For the second time, the Pirates fought back in the bottom half of the inning. Josh Harrison started it off with a one out triple that bounced away from left fielder Cody Asche. Harrison was able to score on a ground out to second by Jordy Mercer and tie the game at two apiece. Nola was able to strike out his pitching counterpart to end the inning.
After getting a lead off single in the top of the third, Herrera stole second to put himself in scoring position. He moved up to third on a fly out by Blanco. This put him ninety feet away from scoring with Joseph coming to the plate. Joseph drew a four pitch walk and Rupp came to the plate with a chance to redeem himself from his last at-bat. However, he didn't get the chance to do that, as he was hit in the helmet with a pitch. It appeared to go off of the ear flap on his helmet and he was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons. Carlos Ruiz came in to replace Rupp. The hit batter loaded the bases for Asche with only one out. He was retired on an infield fly for the second out. Galvis hit a hard ball to first base to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded.
The Phillies got to work again in the top of the fourth. Hernandez led off the inning with a walk and stole the fifth base of the game for the Phils. Nola was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. He was the fifth Phillie to be hit thus far in this series. During the next Phillies at-bat, the Pirates' athletic trainer went to the mound and Glasnow was removed. Bourjos finished his at-bat against reliever Juan Nicasio and ended up striking out for the first out of the inning. Herrera followed with a ground out to first that allowed the runners to move up to second and third. However, this ended up being for naught, as Blanco struck out to end the inning.
The top of the fifth brought some clutch hitting for the Phils. With one out, Ruiz singled to right field. He was out on a force play at second and was replaced at first by Asche. A single by Galvis put runners on first and third with two outs for Hernandez. For the second time in the game, he got the key hit with a runner in scoring position that the Phillies hadn't been able to muster in their previous scoring opportunities. Hernandez singled to right field to give the Phillies a one-run lead. Unfortunately, Nola struck out to end the inning, but the team was able to retake the lead.
The lead didn't last long. In the bottom half of the inning, the Pirates jumped on Nola. After a lead-off single by Jordy Mercer, pinch-hitter Matt Joyce and first baseman John Jaso both walked to load the bases with no outs. Gregory Polanco followed with a single to right field to score both Mercer and Joyce to give the Pirates the lead. That was the end of Nola's outing. Phillies reliever Severino Gonzalez entered the game and got McCutchen to fly out for the first out of the inning. However, he hit Marte with a pitch to load up the bases. David Freese came up with another clutch hit for the team, knocking in two more runs and ending Nola's line for the day. Catcher Francisco Cervelli followed with a sacrifice fly to increase the Pirates' lead. Gonzalez was able to get the final out of the inning, but the damage had already been done.
The Phillies started to chip away at the Pirates' lead in the top of the sixth. With one out, Herrera slammed a triple off the right field wall. He scored on the single by Blanco, and the lead was in striking distance. After a fly out by Joseph, Ruiz singled to put runners on first and third. The Pirates made a pitching change and Asche came to the plate. He popped out for the third time in the game to end the inning. This was the last time in the game that the Phillies would score, as the number of men left on base continued to increase.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Nola | 4.0 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4.75 |
| Tyler Glasnow | 3.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5.40 |
Phillies
- Cesar Hernandez: 2-4, BB, 2 RBI, .281 AVG
- Tommy Joseph: 2-4, BB, RBI, .264 AVG
- Odubel Herrera: 3-4, 3B, BB, 2 R, .290 AVG
Pirates
- Starling Marte: 1-3, R, RBI, .311 AVG
- Gregory Polanco: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, .282 AVG
- David Freese: 1-4, 2 RBI, .284 AVG
Phillies
- Severino Gonzalez (5th, 6th): 2.0 IP, 1, H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.52 ERA
- Edubray Ramos (7th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 4.63 ERA
- David Hernandez (8th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.34 ERA
Pirates
- Juan Nicasio (4th, 5th): 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 5.07 ERA
- Jared Hughes (6th): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.24 ERA
- Neftali Feliz (6th, 7th): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.05 ERA
- Tony Watson (8th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 2.72 ERA
- Mark Melancon (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 1.55 ERA
- Sunday, July 24, 2016: at Pittsburgh Pirates 1:35 PM ET
- Pittsburgh – PNC Park
- RHP Vince Velasquez (8-2, 3.15 ERA) vs. RHP Jameson Taillon (2-1, 3.44 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
