Phillies drop four-game series to Pirates

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Philadelphia Phillies 3 ❖ Attendance: 33,059

PHILADELPHIA — After a 47 minute rain delay, the Philadelphia Phillies (28-56) were hoping to record a win against the Pittsburgh Pirates (40-46) to split the four game series with their cross-state rivals. Unfortunately, they weren't able to do so. Phils starter Jeremy Hellickson had an okay outing, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings. 2017 All-Star Pat Neshek followed with a scoreless seventh inning. After the Phillies tied it in the bottom of the seventh, it looked like they had a shot. That changed when Joaquin Benoit entered the game in the eighth in relief of Neshek. He allowed three runs on four hits over two-thirds of an inning. Those three runs were all that the Pirates needed to put the nail in the coffin.

The Phillies offense was abysmal, as it has been for virtually all of this season. Aaron Altherr and Maikel Franco each got two hits. The most notable thing that happened while the Phillies were at the plate was the number of baserunners that were thrown out trying to extend singles into doubles. This happened three times in today's game by Odubel Herrera once and Altherr twice. There's a difference between hustling on the base-path to make something happen and poor decision making. The Phillies weren't smart baserunners tonight and it ended up affecting the game.

WP: Chad Kuhl (3-6, 5.03 ERA) ❖ LP: Joaquin Benoit (1-3, 4.54 ERA) ❖ SV: Juan Nicasio (1)

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
PIT	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	6	11	1
PHI	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	6	0

The Phillies struck first in an unconventional way. Catcher Andrew Knapp led off the third inning with a walk. During the at-bat of Andres Blanco, the Pirates catcher, Elias Diaz, tried to pick off Knapp on first. Pirates first baseman Josh Bell was distracted by Blanco's bat, which had flown into the stands near the home team dugout, and the ball sailed down the first base line. Knapp scored from first to give the Phils the lead. Blanco, Jeremy Hellickson, and Daniel Nava were all retired to end the strange inning.

The Pirates fought back in the top of the fourth. Andrew McCutchen led off the inning with his second hit of the day, a double to center field. Bell followed with his sixteenth homer of the season to give the Pirates the lead. This clutch hit made up for his mistake in the previous frame. One out later, Gregory Polanco homered to right field to extend the Pirates' lead. Diaz and Max Moroff were retired for the second and third outs.

The bats were quiet for both teams until the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco singled to center. Tommy Joseph followed with a double to left field to put runners on second and third for Aaron Altherr. He singled to left field to score Franco and Joseph. However, he was thrown out trying to extend the single into a double by Pirates left fielder Jose Osuna. This was Osuna's third outfield assist of the game. He's the first Pirates player to do so since 1991. Odubel Herrera popped out for the final out, but the Phils were back in the game and Hellickson was off the hook.

The tie didn't last for long. With one out, McCutchen doubled to the right field corner. Bell followed with a double to knock in McCutchen for his third RBI of the day. After a strike out by David Freese, Polanco singled to score Bell and extend the Pirates' lead. He advanced to second on the play. This was Polanco's fourth hit of the day and his second four-hit game of the season. Diaz followed with a double to left field to score Polanco. Ricardo Pinto, who entered the game at this point in relief of the struggling Joaquin Benoit, retired Moroff on a fly out to end the inning. That was all the offense that the Pirates needed to secure the victory.

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Starting Pitchers