Esmerlyn Valdez tripled, singled and knocked in two runs, Endy Rodriguez and Nick Gonzales homered and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Pirates split their four-game series in Philadelphia, closing with a win against a Phillies team that had won 11 of its previous 15 games at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n
Jake Mangum had three hits and a run scored, while Brandon Lowe had a pair of hits, scored a run and reached safely three times for Pittsburgh. The Pirates had 14 hits and limited the Phillies to four.<\/p>\n
Phillies starting pitcher Alan Rangel, promoted recently from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, held his own against the Pirates but didn’t last long.<\/p>\n
Rangel threw 90 pitches in four innings, allowing no runs on only three hits, but with four walks and four strikeouts. He left with a 1-0 lead, courtesy of Bryce Harper’s two-out, RBI double to left field in the third.<\/p>\n
That left runners on second and third, but Pirates starter Jared Jones escaped further damage by getting Brandon Marsh on a fly to right. Jones also lasted four innings, allowing two hits with six strikeouts.<\/p>\n
The Pirates tied it in the fifth against Tim Mayza, who gave up a double to leadoff hitter Mangum and a single to Brandon Lowe. Valdez then singled home Mangum with a tying run.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh took the lead off Jose Alvarado (3-3) in the seventh inning as Valdez tripled home Lowe, and Gonzales, who had three hits and two RBIs, knocked in Valdez. Gonzales homered in the ninth.<\/p>\n
Carmen Mlodzinski (5-3) allowed two hits over three scoreless innings for the Pirates.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Pirates: Start a three-game series in Washington on Friday night, running RHP Mitch Keller (6-5, 4.87 ERA) out against Nationals LHP Foster Griffin (8-2, 2.93 ERA).<\/p>\n
Phillies: After a Friday off day, they play Saturday night in Kansas City, with LHP Jesus Luzardo (6-4, 3.88 ERA) going against Royals RHP Michael Wacha (5-5, 3.31 ERA).<\/p>\n