Roy Halladay’s pitching helps Philadelphia Phillies defeat Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 – MLB Update
The Philadelphia Phillies put an end to their losing streak, turned a spell of calamity into boon and defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Sunday, June 05 at PNC Park, Pittsburgh.
The Pirates, which also avoided a sweep in the three-game series, finally saw their offence charging up after a considerably long and equally worrying time.
Roy Halladay put in a good pitching performance to lead the Phillies to a substantial victory over the Pirates.
"Not to take away anything from (the Pirates); obviously they've been playing pretty well lately," Halladay said. "But I think we feel like these are games we need to win, and at some point you kind of get over that and get things rolling. I'm sure this
is a lot of weight off of everybody."
Neil Walker gave a good start to the Pirates on Sunday as he homered to right centre, contributing to a 2-0 lead when Halladay came out to pitch. After initially committing that mistake, Halladay altered the form of the game with his unhittable innings.
Raul Ibanez laid the foundation of runs for the Phillies in the fourth inning with his sacrifice fly hit. Ryan Howard levelled the score in the fifth inning while Carlos Ruiz made it 3-2 for the Phillies. The Pirates’ offence was victim to Halladay’s unplayable
fastballs.
The Phillies then saw Placido Polanco single to left to make it 4-2 for his team. Evan Meek gave up three hits in the inning and allowed a run after James McDonald was relieved.
Ryan Howard singled to centre to make it 5-2 for the Phillies in the eighth inning with Halladay keeping the Pittsburgh hitters at bay. Soon after Jose Contreras replaced Halladay, Andrew McCutchen scored a single to bring down the Phillies’ lead to 5-3.
However, Shane Victorino and Howard singled separately to place the Phillies in a comfortable position giving them a 7-3 lead, kindling the hopes that the Phillies are finally back in form. That proved to be true.
Ryan Madson pitched a shut-out inning to seal the victory for the Phillies, avoiding a 3-0 sweep in the series and imbuing the team with a renewed hope to come down harder on rival teams.
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