All 5-foot-10, 175 pound of Adam Frazier came up to the plate as a pinch hitter to lead off the seventh inning in a tie game.
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Jameson Taillon pitched quite well overall, with seven strikeouts and no walks in six innings, but his mistakes were pronounced, as extra-base hits led to all four Philadelphia runs.
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis and will make his second major league start Saturday when he faces the Philadelphia Phillies.
Nola (5-9) impressed as a rookie last season, going 6-2 with a 3.59 ERA in 13 starts, and then went 5-4 with a 2.65 ERA in his first 12 starts this season.
“Just looking at his body language, he showed that he was struggling to find the strike zone”, manager Pete Mackanin said. “I got my hands to it and got the barrel out front”. While failing to go deep for Triple-A Indianapolis this year, he has posted just three professional home runs since being selected by the Pirates in the sixth-round of the 2013 MLB Draft. “It was pretty big”. Freese’s hit off Severino Gonzalez pushed the lead to three runs, and Francisco Cervelli capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to help Pittsburgh win for the fourth time in six games.
“The two home runs were both three-fastball sequences”, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He stayed on the aggression throughout the outing”.
In the sixth inning, Velasquez gave up a double to Starling Marte on a 0-2 pitch that quickly sent things off the rails. He is slugging a career-high.563 on the season, after posting a career-low.291 mark in 2015 with the Anaheim Angels. “I didn’t think about numbers”. Obviously, these are eye-catching numbers.
The teams traded runs through the first couple of innings. Sean Rodriguez then drove in Joyce with a double to centre.
The Phillies scored a pair off Taillon in the third when he gave up a leadoff single to Velasquez. Cesar Hernandez tripled to center to drive in Velasquez, who opened with an infield single.
Pittsburgh Pirates closer Mark Melancon delivers in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Pittsburgh, Sunday, July 24, 2016. He became the first Pirates pitcher to have three consecutive seasons with 30 or more. Frazier’s homer made a victor of Pirates reliever Neftali Feliz (4-0).
But with a rain storm threatening that would eventually delay the game an inning later, Frazier took a more-direct approach.
Phillies: Blanco left the game with a fractured left index finger after applying a tag on Gregory Polanco at third base in the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, third baseman David Freese hit a ground ball to third but Polanco’s slide into second disrupted the double play. It was Franco’s first action since being removed from Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch in his wrist. He went 1 for 2 at the plate.
In a series that had already seen Maikel Franco and Cameron Rupp miss time after being hit by pitches, Blanco was injured on a seemingly routine play in the fifth inning.
“There’s no concussion, no anything”, Rupp said Sunday.
The Pirates announced Sunday that Glasnow was placed on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder discomfort.
Odubel Herrera had his second straight three-hit game for the Phillies after going 4 for 41 in his previous 11 games. He is 3-0 with a 2.20 ERA in six starts since his last loss May 29.
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The Phillies are 1-8 in their past nine games at PNC Park.
