Five things we learned from the Phillies-Pirates series

Jeremy Hellickson still dominates the Pirates

In our series preview, one of the notes mentioned how dominant Jeremy Hellickson has been in his career versus the Pirates. Though he, unfortunately, was forced to leave the game after tweaking his back, Hellickson threw six innings of two-hit baseball. The only two runs allowed came in the first inning, one because of a Freddy Galvis throwing error. If not for the injury scare Hellickson may have gone one, possibly two more innings in what turned out to be a major win for Philadelphia.

Hellickson took his third career win in four games against the Pirates, showing he’s got something special against the Bucs. This could be a major selling point for a team within the National League Central to acquire Hellickson, who is healthy after the injury scare on Friday. St. Louis or Chicago could add a pitcher such as Hellickson and benefit greatly down the stretch when every game matters.

We’ll have to watch if the back injury suffered on a big swing Friday night comes back to haunt the righty, but for now, he seems to be ready for the Rockies.