PITTSBURGH -- When the Philadelphia Phillies loaded the bases with no outs and trailed by a run in the eighth inning, it appeared Pittsburgh right-hander Gerrit Cole would have his 10th win of the season pulled from underneath him.

But left-hander Tony Watson induced three Philadelphia ground balls and Pittsburgh forced two runners out at the plate to preserve the Pirates' 4-3 victory over the Phillies on Saturday.

Cole gave up two runs in six innings for his major-league-best 10th victory.

"It's a stat that I think all the pitchers care about," Cole said. "It's a stat you don't always have the most control over. We've played really, really well out there as a unit every time I've stepped on the hill."

The latest example was Saturday when Watson gave up a run before loading the bases, but he worked out of the jam.

Cole (10-2) yielded two runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked none.

"He was out there hunting," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He was out there giving it everything he had. It's fun to watch him compete. He expects a lot out of himself and he demands a lot out of himself."

Philadelphia (22-41) owns the worst road record in baseball at 7-25 and has lost 18 of its last 23 games.

Phillies right-hander Sean O'Sullivan was charged with four runs and eight hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out one.

O'Sullivan (1-5) gave up two runs in each of the first two innings but kept the Pirates off the board during the rest of his outing to work through the sixth.

"I thought O'Sullivan pitched better than his line in a lot of regards," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "For the length that he went and had some shady defense with a run coming in, but other than that I thought he pitched well."

After the Phillies were shut out in 13 innings on Friday, they scored in the first inning Saturday. Right fielder Ben Revere singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error and scored on second baseman Chase Utley's sacrifice fly.

Pittsburgh responded with two runs in its first at-bat.

Right fielder Gregory Polanco led off with a single and stole second. He moved to third and scored on a fielder's choice grounder by center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Left fielder Starling Marte grounded to shortstop Freddy Galvis, who tried to throw out Polanco at third, but it hit Polanco in the back and he was safe. McCutchen grounded to third baseman Maikel Franco, whose throw home arrived in time to nab Polanco, but catcher Carlos Ruiz dropped the ball.

Sandberg said he thought Franco made the right play.

"The runner goes close to the line and I just tried to free the catcher from contact to catch the ball and tag up," Franco said. "I just tried to make the throw."

Galvis' throw to third on the play before, however, was perceived by Sandberg as the infielder being overaggressive and trying to do too much instead of making the simple, correct play.

"Freddy's ball was very iffy going up the middle like that and throwing all the way to third, maybe with no lane," Sandberg said. "Just taking the out and maybe allowing just the one run to come in would've been the play there."

Third baseman Josh Harrison drove Marte home with a two-out single, giving Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead.

In the eighth, when the Pirates had to make defensive plays of their own, they did and that proved the difference.

"It's one of the rare times (Watson) gets in trouble, but he made pitches," Harrison said. "He got the ground balls that we needed."

The Pirates added two runs in the second on balls that didn't leave the infield. Third baseman Jung Ho Kang and catcher Chris Stewart singled before Cole bunted them to second and third.

Marte reached on a chopper past O'Sullivan that Utley couldn't get