Pirates 4, Phillies 3
PHILADELPHIA -- Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and left fielder Starling Marte hit a three-run homer as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Monday night.
Cole, who suffered his first loss of the season in his last start, allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out six, walked two and hit a batter while improving to 5-1.
He also won for the ninth time in his last 12 starts, dating to last season, and improved to 5-0 in his last seven road outings.
Center fielder Andrew McCutcheon also drove in a run for Pittsburgh (16-16), which has won three straight and four of five.
Right fielder Grady Sizemore drove in two runs for the Phillies (11-22), and rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera hit his first major league home run, a solo shot in the ninth off Pirates closer Mark Melancon.
Philadelphia has dropped three in a row.
Phillies starter Jerome Williams (2-3) went five innings and yielded three runs and four hits, striking out four and walking two. He also hit a batter.
Jared Hughes pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Pittsburgh, while Melancon earned his eighth save despite allowing Herrera's homer.
Sizemore gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead by singling home a run in the first.
But, in the third, Williams walked right fielder Gregory Polanco and McCutchen. Then he hung a 1-2 curveball to Marte, who hit it into the left-field seats for his eighth homer of the season, putting the Pirates up 3-1.
The Phillies cut it to 3-2 when Sizemore drove in a run with a bloop single in the sixth, but McCutcheon's seventh-inning sacrifice fly restored Pittsburgh's two-run lead.
NOTES: The Phillies announced that RHP Sean O'Sullivan will start Tuesday against the Pirates. He will fill the spot vacated when RHP David Buchanan was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 2. In two starts for Philadelphia earlier this season, O'Sullivan went 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA. He spent the past three weeks on the disabled list due to left knee tendinitis, and he allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings Thursday during a rehab start for low Class A Lakewood. ... The Pirates placed LHP Antonio Bastardo on the paternity list and recalled LHP Bobby LaFromboise from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... RHP Aaron Nola, the Phillies' top pick in the 2014 draft (No. 7 overall) is 4-2 with a 2.04 ERA at Double-A Reading, but manager Ryne Sandberg said he has not heard any conversations within the organization about promoting Nola to Lehigh Valley.