Phillies Drop Series Finale in Pittsburgh
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped the finale of their weekend series to the host Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
The host Pittsburgh Pirates got a pair of late home runs, including the ultimate game-winner by a rookie going deep for the first time in his career, to beat the Phillies by a 5-4 score on Sunday afternoon and gain a win of the weekend series at PNC Park.
Rookie Adam Frazier led off the bottom of the 7th inning as a pinch-hitter in a 4-4 game, and drove a pitch from Phils reliever Edubray Ramos out to right field to provide what would prove to be the winning margin.
At the outset, Phillies starting pitcher Vincent Velasquez came out strong, and carried a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 6th inning.
The Phillies got on the board first when, with two outs in the top of the 1st inning, Andres Blanco lined his 4th home run of the year out to right-center field.
Blanco was starting at 3rd base and hitting in the 3-spot of manager Pete Mackanin‘s batting order in order to give Maikel Franco another day of rest, after the Phils’ regular starter at the position had been hit by a pitch on the wrist earlier in the series.
The Bucs evened it up in the bottom of the 2nd inning with a hit, a walk, a wild pitch, and a ground out. An RBI double by Sean Rodriguez then pushed the home side in front by an early 2-1 score.
In the top of the 3rd, Velasquez started the inning with a single. He then showed off his legs, rolling all the way around to score when Cesar Hernandez followed with an RBI triple. Hernandez then scored on an RBI ground out by Odubel Herrera, and the Phillies were back on top by 3-2.
The Phils lost Blanco, and saw Franco have to return sooner than they would have liked, on a fluke defensive play in the bottom of the 5th. After slicing a one-out double, Gregory Polanco tried to steal 3rd and slid into Blanco, who injured his wrist on the play.
Herrera would lead off the top of the 6th with a solo homer, the 11th of the season for the Phillies long NL All-Star, and the visitors had a 4-2 lead.
To that point, Velasquez appeared to be mostly cruising. He had allowed five hits over the first five innings. But the Pirates quickly evened things up on him in the bottom of the 6th when Starling Marte led off with a double and Matt Joyce followed with a game-tying two-run homer.
Frazier’s homer then put them ahead in the bottom of the 7th, and then Mother Nature stepped into the proceedings, as the game was delayed by rain for just over an hour and a half in the bottom of the 8th inning.
When action resumed, Pirates closer Mark Melancon set the Phillies down in order in the top of the 9th to wrap up the victory for the home team.
“We had opportunities the whole series. Especially today’s game included, we need some big hits to score,” Mackanin said per MLB.com contributors.
The Phils now head south to Miami for a three game series with the Marlins. Jeremy Hellickson will fly down with the Phillies, but if rumors can be believed, there is a realistic chance that he won’t be with the team when they fly out on Wednesday night.