Phillies beat Bucs, snap skid

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

James McDonald’s control problems on Sunday made it nearly impossible for the Pirates to beat the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.

Pittsburgh wasn’t going to let that ruin the good feeling it got from the weekend.

Roy Halladay pitched seven effective innings and the Philadelphia Phillies snapped a season-high four-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over the Pirates.

The loss to the four-time defending NL East champions did little to dampen spirits in the Pittsburgh clubhouse after the game.

“It was a great series for our ballclub and the city,” Pirates second baseman Neil Walker said. “We played hard and played well against the team with the best record in the league in front of three great crowds. It’s something to build on.”

The Pirates won the first two games of the series, which drew 108,807 fans — the fourth-largest three-game series in PNC Park history. That 36,269 per-game average was inflated by several thousand Phillies fans, but the Pirates’ average attendance entering the series was 18,765.

Walker hit a two-run homer in the first inning, one of six Pittsburgh hits off Halladay (8-3), who had six strikeouts and one walk in tying for the most wins in the majors.

“We just played a weekend series that was as good as you’d ever want to get in the regular season against a very good ballcub,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We won two of three and made them play us all day to beat us in the third game.

“We have a lot of work to do and a lot of areas to improve in, but everything we planned coming out of spring training, well, we’re heading in that direction.”

Ryan Howard had three RBIs, Chase Utley was on base four times and Placido Polanco had two hits and scored twice for Philadelphia.

The struggling Phillies offense had 14 hits and was aided by seven walks, two hit batters, two wild pitches and a passed ball.