Jul 24, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pinch hitter Adam Frazier (26) celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
PITTSBURGH — Pinch-hitter Adam Frazier hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh Sunday to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 at PNC Park.
The solo shot to right, off of reliever Edubray Ramos (1-1), was Frazier’s first major-league homer.
The Pirates won three of their past four games and five of their past seven. They won four home series in a row.
The Phillies lost eight of their past nine games at PNC Park.
The game featured a matchup of promising young starters, and both pitched six innings and left with the game tied 4-4, so neither got a decision.
Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon allowed four runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out six, the most of his 11 starts this rookie season. Taillon had allowed two earned runs in 12 innings of work over his previous two starts.
The Phillies’ Vince Valasquez, who had been 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts since coming off the DL in late June, allowed four runs on seven hits, with four walks and five strikeouts.
Neftali Feliz (4-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Mark Melancon pitched the ninth for his 30th save.
Andres Blanco — who left in the fifth after getting a broken and bloody left index finger on a fielding play at third and is likely headed to the DL — hit a two-out home run to center to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead in the first.
The Pirates took a 2-1 lead in the second on Elias Diaz’s one-out groundout — his first major league RBI in his first major league start — and Sean Rodriguez’s RBI double to center after Starling Marte singled, Matt Joyce walked and they both advanced on a Velasquez wild pitch.
The Phillies leapfrogged back in front, 3-2, in the third. Cesar Hernandez tripled to center to drive in Velasquez, who opened with an infield single. Hernandez scored on Odubel Herrera’s groundout.
Herrera’s leadoff homer, his 11th, to center in the sixth boosted Philadelphia’s lead to 4-2.
Joyce pulled Pittsburgh into a 4-4 tie with a 434-foot, two-run home run, his 10th, to dead center in the sixth.
NOTES: There was a 92-minute rain delay in the bottom of the eighth. … Pittsburgh placed RHP Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day DL, a day after he left his second major league start in the fourth inning because of right shoulder discomfort. … C Cameron Rupp, who was hit in the cheek by a pitch Saturday, was out of the Philadelphia lineup. It is believed he is undergoing concussion protocol but had shown no symptoms. … Phillies 3B Maikel Franco missed his second straight start since leaving Friday’s game a couple of innings after he was hit on the top of the left wrist by a pitch. … RHP A.J. Schugel was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, one day after he was optioned there by the Pirates to make room for Glasnow. … Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen and C Francisco Cervelli, who is coming back from a broken hand, were given the day off from the starting lineup. … C Elias Diaz made his first major league start for the Pirates. He is filling in for C Eric Fryer, who is on paternity leave. … Pittsburgh and Philadelphia don’t meet again until a three-game series Sept. 12-15 at Citizens Bank Park.
