PITTSBURGH -- Clint Hurdle scoffed when asked if his Pittsburgh club had been expecting a lot from Philadelphia rookie right-hander Zach Eflin, noting that the Pirates had done their homework.

"We're well aware coming in this guy kept the ball down, got a lot of ground balls, challenged people and threw strikes," the Pirates manager said.

It's doubtful, however, that Pittsburgh was fully prepared for what they saw from Eflin. He was masterful in a three-hit, complete-game shutout in the Phillies' 4-0 win Friday night.

"If your fastball is straight and your stuff is vanilla, it doesn't always work, but with him he's got such good movement on his fastball and he uses it to both sides of the plate, he gets strikes and throws strikes with it," Philadelphia manager Pete Mackanin said. "And it's tough to hit because of the movement on the pitch. He's fun to watch when he's on.

"You don't see that very often in a 22-year-old. He's not a 95-98 (mph) type of power pitcher, but he really knows how to pitch."

Eflin (3-3) struck out six and walked none in his first career shutout and second career complete game. He threw 100 pitches and faced just two Pirates batters over the minimum.

"I just came to a conclusion where I was going to throw it really hard, and it was working, all four of my pitches were working today, I was able to get ahead with the slider; able to put a couple guys away with the slider, and it felt good," he said.

He has a string of six starts in which he hasn't given up more than three earned runs while going at least six innings.

"I've learned a lot," Eflin said. "We've really focused hard before games and before series on executing game plans and going over each hitter and making them feel uncomfortable; we've just been doing a good job as a staff of doing that. So we're excited moving forward."

The Phillies scored a run in the sixth and one in the seventh before Cameron Rupp hit a two-run homer in the ninth. Philadelphia picked up its third win in eight games since the All-Star break and also broke a six-game losing streak at PNC Park.

"It was a good game for us; we haven't won a lot of games here over the last few years so it was good to at least set the tone for this series," Mackanin said.

Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole (5-6) fell to 0-2 since he came off of the DL, although his numbers were good. He yielded one run and six hits in six innings, with seven strikeouts and one walk.

After Cole struck out the first two batters in the first -- Peter Bourjos and Odubel Herrera -- on six pitches, he hit Maikel Franco on the top of the left wrist with a 96 mph fastball. Franco sat near the plate for a few minutes and got some medical attention, but eventually went to first.

Franco moved to second on Tommy Joseph's base hit, but Rupp grounded out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, Eflin hit Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen in the rear with a 94 mph pitch with two outs, and both benches received a warning. McCutchen got stranded at first.

Franco stayed in the game through the top of the third, then was replaced by Andres Blanco for what the Phillies said was precautionary reasons.

Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in a sixth, but it could have been a lot bigger.

The Phillies loaded the bases on an infield single by Bourjos before Cole hit Herrera (no ejections) and walked Tommy Joseph. Cameron Rupp drove in Bourjos with a single to right. Cole then worked out of trouble with two strikeouts and a fly ball before he left for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the frame.

"I thought the sixth inning was going to come back to haunt us when we didn't score," Mackanin said. "Only got the one run and had the bases loaded again."

Cole both kicked and complimented himself for his work in that inning.

"The sixth inning was unfortunate," he said. "I was just not efficient with the first couple of hitters and got into a jam that, unfortunately, I couldn't totally get out of. I minimized, which was great."

With two outs in the seventh against reliever Arquimedes Caminero, Herrera doubled and scored on Blanco's single to center for a 2-0 Philadelphia lead. After Caminero hit Joseph (again, no response by the umpires), he was replaced by Jared Hughes.

Hughes walked Rupp to load the bases and left for the third pitcher of the inning -- Jonathan Niese, who got pinch-hitter Tyler Goeddel to fly out to end the inning.

Rupp's homer to right-center in the ninth came on the first pitch he saw from Niese.

NOTES: Pittsburgh LF Starling Marte, who was pulled from Thursday's lineup close to game time because of flu symptoms, returned to the lineup Friday. ... For the second game in a row, Pirates 1B John Jaso was moved down from his regular leadoff spot. He batted fifth, with SS Jordy Mercer leading off. ... C Erik Kratz cleared waivers and was outrighted by the Pirates to Triple-A Indianapolis, but has elected free agency. ... RF Peter Bourjos led off for the Phillies, with CF Odubel Herrera batting second -- the opposite of their order Thursday. ... Philadelphia designated LHP Daniel Stumpf for assignment. He pitched in four games after the All-Star break and after serving an 80-game suspension for using a performance-enhancing drug. ... The Phillies recalled RHP Severino Gonzalez from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... The Pirates still have not officially named a starter for Saturday, but it is believed Tyler Glasnow is a strong possibility. ... Philadelphia was the only NL team the Pirates had yet to play this season