Argh! Pirates Beat Phillies 2-1 In 12 innings
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jose Tabata hit a game-ending single with two outs in the 12th inning, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in a game without an extra-base hit.
Tabata smacked a sinking liner off of Danys Baez (1-3) into the hole on the right side that a lunging second baseman Chase Utley could not handle. Right fielder Ben Francisco's throw was not in time, giving Tabata his second RBI of the game when Xavier Paul scored from second. Paul had singling with two outs and stole a base.
Pittsburgh won for the third time in four games.
The Phillies lost their third consecutive game for only the second time this season, despite starter Cole Hamels allowing only one hit in eight innings.
Hamels and Jeff Karstens had dueling one-hitters going through five innings. Karstens was charged with four hits in seven innings.
Daniel Moskos (1-0) earned his first major league win for Pittsburgh, which had the winning run in scoring position in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings.
Moskos worked a perfect top of the 12th - surviving a Carlos Ruiz fly to the warning track in right-center.
The crowd of 33,861 was the Pirates' third-largest of the season - heavily aided by several thousand Phillies fans who had made the cross-state drive.
The ones who did got to see Philadelphia's full everyday lineup for the first time this season. Shane Victorino was activated from the disabled list Friday; he, Chase Utley, Ruiz and Domonic Brown had all missed parts of the season thus far with injury.
But having all their regulars available did little to help an offense that ranks a pedestrian 18th in the majors in runs.
Jimmy Rollins led of the game with an infield single, but Karstens retired 15 of the next 16 he faced.
After Karstens hit Ryan Howard with a pitch later in the first, the Phillies didn't have another baserunner until the sixth. They had two on and none out with the heart of their order coming up, prompting the sea of red in the stands to start chanting "Let's go Phillies!"
Placido Polanco lined sharply to third - right at Josh Harrison, who turned and fired to second, where Neil Walker doubled off Hamels.
But Rollins stole second - just beating Ronny Cedeno's tag on a throw that beat him to the bag, a play which elicited arguments from Cedeno and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. Utley drove him in when he softly lined a single that found its way through the right side of the infield.
The Pirates tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the inning without a hit.
Cedeno led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Karstens. A wild pitch got him to third and he scored when Tabata flew out to deep right.
Karstens, who had two strikeouts and did not walk a batter, continued a recent stretch of good Pirates starting pitching. Paul Maholm allowed six earned runs in Pittsburgh's previous game Thursday, snapping a streak of 13 games in which starters allowed two earned runs or less.
Hamels pitched well enough to win what would have been his fourth consecutive start for the third time in his career and tie Pittsburgh's Kevin Correia for the majors' lead in victories with eight. He has allowed only 20 earned runs over his past 11 starts.
NOTES: The walk-off hit was Tabata's second of the season, the other coming April 8 against Colorado. ... Victorino, out since May 18 with a strained right hamstring, went 0 for 5. ... Rollins stole two bases, extending the Phillies' streak to 11 consecutive successful steals and 23 out of 24. ... The Pirates are 21-12 against the Phillies at 10-year-old PNC Park. ... Philadelphia has lost nine of its past 14 road games. ... The only other time Philadelphia lost as many as three in a row was a four-game skid May 14-17.
