Luis Ortiz threw seven-shutout innings and Oneil Cruz homered as part of a three-RBI performance in the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in front of a sellout crowd at PNC Park on Saturday night.
Ortiz (5-2) held a potent Phillies’ lineup in check and only allowed three hits across his seven innings pitched. The right-hander walked a pair and struck out two while 57 of his 86 pitches went for strikes. Outside of a Nick Castellanos two-out double to put runners at second and third with two outs, the Phillies (62-36) didn’t get a runner in scoring position against the Pirates’ starter.
It was the fourth start of the season for Ortiz, who has not allowed more than one run in any of those starts. Ortiz now owns a 2.57 ERA this season, including a stellar 0.73 mark as a starting pitcher. His five wins match his career-high set last season.
It took until the sixth inning for either team to break the scoreless tie, but Andrew McCutchen got the Pirates (50-48) on the board with a 431-foot solo home run to center off of Sánchez.
Later in the inning, Nick Gonzales singled with two outs and came around to score on an Oneil Cruz double to the right field corner.
With the Pirates’ 2-0 advantage still intact in the bottom of the eighth, Cruz hit a two-run home run to center field off of Matt Strahm to extend the lead by two.
Cruz has driven in at least one run in four-straight games and has nine RBIs over that stretch.
Sánchez (7-5) went 5.2 innings and allowed a pair of runs on eight hits – four of which came in the sixth inning. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out a pair.
Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in order in the eighth inning. David Bednar allowed a solo home run to Bryce Harper but retired the final two batters he faced to seal the win.
