07/30/23 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_Ethan on Twitter
The Pittsburgh Pirates always keep things fun, and fun things happened at PNC Park on Sunday as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 in walk off fashion to cap off a series victory against their cross-state rivals.
In what could very well be Rich Hill’s last start as for the Pirates this season with the trade deadline approaching on Tuesday, Hill would go five innings of work with seven strikeouts and two earned runs.
Speaking of those two earned runs, Sunday’s game wouldn’t see a run until the fourth inning, as Alec Bohm, who has historically done well against the Pittsburgh Pirates, would send one over the right-center field wall to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates offense was held hitless through the first five innings by starter Christopher Sanchez, who would leave the game w/ three strikeouts, two walks and three HBP’s, but nevertheless pitched hitless baseball.
Seranthony Dominguez would relieve Sanchez and things turned to the Pirates favor quickly, as a Connor Joe single would lead to a Bryan Reynolds two-run homer to tie things up. After a Henry Davis walk, Dominguez would leave the game fairly quickly, only recording one out.
Jeff Hoffman would come out to follow Dominguez and allow a base hit Jared Triolo and to birthday boy Josh Palacios to load the bases, but the Pirates failed to add on as Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales would fail to score anymore runs.
That sequence became crucial in the final innings as Jose Hernandez struggled in his outing and Carmen Mlodinski surrendered two inherited runs from Hernandez but struck out three as the Philles regained a two-run advantage.
The Pirates would answer with a run in the bottom of the seventh, with Joe reaching on an infield error and a Bryan Reynolds single along with a fielding error from Johan Rojas.
Mlodinski would finish the eighth with a strong 1-2-3 inning, dropping his ERA to a 1.82 on the season.
Pittsburgh found a way to tie things up in the eighth as Triolo and Palacios each got on base and Nick Gonzales would pick up a sacrifice fly to tie things at four.
David Bednar would come on in the ninth after his stellar performance Saturday night and keep the Phillies off the scoreboard in the top of the ninth and give the Pirates offense a chance to walk it off.
Craig Kimbrel would allow Joe and Reynolds to reach in the bottom of the ninth with no outs, but Andrew McCutchen, Henry Davis and Jared Triolo failed to score Joe as the winning run and the game would head to extras.
In the top of the 10th, we got one of the more funky putouts you’ll ever see, as Henry Davis held Bryce Harper on a beautiful throw from right field, but Endy Rodriguez caught Bohm in a rundown and Alika Williams would complete the double play by throwing out Harper at home, a 9-2-4-2 double play. Angel Perdomo would complete the inning scoreless in his first appearance since being suspended for plunking Manny Machado.
Josh Palacios would walk it off on his birthday, did I mention it was his birthday? Bottom of the 10th, scoring the inherited runner and the Pirates won the series against the Phillies on Sunday.
Pittsburgh plays again Tuesday against Detroit.
News & Notes
- Player of the game: Josh Palacios: 3-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 2B
- Winning pitcher: Angel Perdomo: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K
- Losing pitcher: Andrew Vasquez: 0.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER
- Pirates move to 46-58 and end July 8-16
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