Pirates 2, Phillies 0: Jeff Locke pitched six scoreless innings and Gaby Sanchez homered as visiting Pittsburgh shut down Philadelphia and kept Cole Hamels winless.
Brandon Inge, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day, delivered an RBI double in his second at-bat in a Pirates' uniform. Locke (2-1) allowed two hits and struck out six in his first career start against the Phillies as Pittsburgh has won 10 of its last 14 games following a 1-5 start.
Hamels (0-3) pitched well enough to win for the third straight start – he allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings – but Philadelphia has scored four runs in losing all those games. The Phillies, who had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in three of the first four innings, finished with four hits.
The Pirates had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs in each of the first five innings, but scored only once. They took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Neil Walker led off with an infield hit and Inge followed with a run-scoring double off the base of the right-center field wall.
After Sanchez's two-out double in the fifth inning, the next 17 batters were retired before Sanchez took Hamels' 2-1 offering out to right in the eighth. Tony Watson and Mark Melancon each pitched a scoreless inning and Jason Grilli struck out two in a perfect ninth for his eighth save in as many chances.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Phillies put runners at first and third with none out in the fourth when John Mayberry Jr. tripled and Domonic Brown was hit by a pitch, but Mayberry was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice grounder and Erik Kratz hit into a double play. ... To make room for Inge, the Pirates optioned OF Alex Presley to Triple-A Indianapolis. ... Phillies 3B Michael Young went 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Pittsburgh | Philadelphia | |
Jeff Locke | Player | Cole Hamels |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 8.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 6 |
2 | Hits | 7 |
0.00 | ERA | 2.25 |
Pittsburgh | Philadelphia | |
Gaby Sanchez | Player | Laynce Nix |
2 | Hits | 1 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 1 |
.667 | Avg | 1.000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Pittsburgh | 7 | 1 | 13 | .194 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Philadelphia | 4 | 0 | 7 | .133 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |