Hamels Outpitches Cole, Phillies Beat Pirates
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Major league loss leader Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings, Carlos Ruiz hit a tiebreaking single and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Gerrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 Thursday.
Hamels (3-11) gave up one earned run and five hits, striking out eight without a walk. The former World Series MVP won for the first time since June 5.
Cole (4-1) lost for the first time in the majors after becoming the first Pirates' pitcher to win his first four career starts since Nick Maddox in 1907. Cole allowed three runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings.
Hamels received some rare support as the Phillies have scored just 22 runs in his 11 losses.
Ben Revere had three of the Phillies' 13 hits and two RBIs. Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins and Delmon Young each had two hits.
Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth inning for his 17th save in 21 opportunities.
Ruiz's two-run single came off Vin Mazzaro in the middle of a four-run sixth inning in which Cole was chased.
Ruiz, who sat out the first 25 games of the season after being suspended by Major League Baseball for testing positive for a banned stimulant, had driven in just four runs all year prior to Thursday.
Cole was removed after Ryan Howard walked with one out and Dominic Brown followed with a single.
Mazzaro, who had not allowed any of his 12 inherited runners to score this season, came on and gave up three straight singles. Young's hit loaded the bases and Kevin Frandsen's single tied it before Ruiz hit a liner to center to score Brown and Young and put Philadelphia ahead.
Revere capped the inning by driving in a run with a grounder.
Pinch-hitter Michael Young's sacrifice fly in the eighth extended the Phillies' lead to 6-2.
The Pirates scored twice in the eighth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Garrett Jones and a double-play grounder by Andrew McCutchen.
McCutchen's two-run double off Hamels in the third opened the scoring. The Phillies cut the deficit to 2-1 on Revere's RBI single in the fifth.
Starling Marte and Jose Tabata each had two hits for Pittsburgh, which has the best record in the majors, but has lost two of three since a nine-game winning streak. Marte ran his hitting streak to nine games.
Philadelphia won for just the 10th time in 25 games as it avoided dropping to a season-worst six games below .500. The Phillies won a series in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2008.
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