Phillies Sink The Pirates

Bobby Abreu singled to break a seventh-inning tie as the Philadelphia rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 Thursday night and complete a three-game sweep.

"It`s another example of getting guys in scoring position and things working out," said Jimmy Rollins, who was 4-for-4 with a solo homer and a triple.

"When you have a team that can score, you`re never out of it," said Rollins, 9-for-13 in the series.

Philadelphia, which has won six of its last seven, swept three games from the Pirates for the first time since July 10-12, 1998. Pittsburgh has lost 13 of its last 16 games.

Philadelphia, put in a 5-1 deficit by starter Robert Person, tied it with a four-run sixth that began when Rollins homered, Abreu doubled and Scott Rolen singled.

Starter Jimmy Anderson was replaced by Josias Manzanillo, who gave up RBI singles to Pat Burrell, Johnny Estrada and Kevin Jordan.

Scott Sauerbeck (0-2) came in and got Doug Glanville to line into an inning-ending double play, then walked Brian Hunter leading off the seventh and gave up consecutive singles to Rollins and Abreu.

"We battled back and hung in there," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "Person wasn`t as sharp as he has been but it turned out all right."

Person struck out a season-high nine and walked none, giving up five runs and seven hits in six innings.

Rheal Cormier (2-0) pitched two-thirds of an inning, Ricky Bottalico got the last two outs of the eighth and Jose Mesa finished for his 13th save in 14 chances.

Mesa gave up a two-out double to Abraham Nunez, then walked Craig Wilson before Jason Kendall flied out.

Five Phillies pitchers combined to strike out 12, getting strikeouts on 10 of 12 outs from the fourth through eighth innings.

Pittsburgh took its first lead of the series on a solo homer in the second by Brian Giles, his ninth this season.

Travis Lee hit an RBI groundout in the bottom half, but the Pirates went ahead 3-1 in the third on an RBI double by John Vander Wal and a sacrifice fly by Aramis Ramirez.

Pittsburgh added two runs in the sixth when Giles tripled, Rob Mackowiak hit an RBI grounder and Pat Meares had a run-scoring infield single.

"It`s frustrating to blow a lead, especially when you have your best pitcher out there throwing well," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said.

Anderson gave up four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.

Game notes:
Philadelphia has four sweeps this season and leads second-place Atlanta by 6 1/2 games, the Phillies` largest lead since Sept. 10, 1993, when they had a seven-game margin en route to the NL pennant. ... Mackowiak singled in the second inning for his first major league hit.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News