Outburst helps Pirates sink Phillies

Associated Press

pittsburgh

A weekend after they were the visiting team in their home ballpark, the Phillies brought so many fans to Pittsburgh that it almost seemed like they were the home team in a visiting ballpark.

Not that it helped.

Garrett Jones and Delwyn Young drove in two runs each during Pittsburgh’s comeback six-run seventh inning, and the last-place Pirates beat the sliding Phillies for the third time in four games, 8-5 on Sunday.

Pirates rookie Pedro Alvarez started the rally with his second homer in as many games and drove in two runs, while Jones had three RBIs as the Pirates won their fourth in five games. They are 5-2 since losing 18 of 20.

“Coming from behind from a three-run deficit, it shows our resilience,” Alvarez said of the Pirates, who are 22 games below .500. “A lot of time what happens is we don’t get a break (in those situations), but we’ve got to keep going and keep playing the way we are.”

The defending NL champion Phillies couldn’t hold a 5-2 lead in losing their fourth in five games and fifth in seven games. Now, they head into an important homestand in which they play NL East-leading Atlanta three times and NL Central-leading Cincinnati four times. And they’ll play it without seven injured players, including All-Star second baseman Chase Utley.

A week from now, the two-time defending NL champions might regard it as the homestand in which they re-established themselves as a prime contender — or, conversely, as the one in which their season got away from them.