When Oneil Cruz hit a leadoff home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was a sign of what was to come against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Pirates jumped out to a three-run lead on Cruz’s solo shot and a two-run homer by Travis Swaggerty, only for the Phillies to answer in kind by going deep six times.
Darick Hall homered twice to spark the Phillies to a 10-4 win over the Pirates on Friday at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla. It marked the second consecutive Grapefruit League game that the Pirates allowed double-digit runs, following Thursday’s 10-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Cruz hit Zack Wheeler’s 96-mph four-seam fastball opposite field for a 343-foot homer to start the game, and Swaggerty smacked another fastball for a 379-foot shot to right for a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
Pirates starter JT Brubaker cruised through the first three innings but walked Nick Castellanos and surrendered a two-run homer to Hall to make it 3-2 in the fourth. Brubaker allowed four hits and one walk while striking out six, throwing 40 of his 63 pitches for strikes. He leads the Grapefruit League with 15 strikeouts.
Brubaker was replaced in the fourth by Chase De Jong, who gave up the lead after a single by Kingery, a Josh Harrison walk and a two-run double by John Hicks to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. Hoskins added a two-out, two-run homer to make it 6-3.
Caleb Smith relieved De Jong in the fifth but gave up back-to-back solo homers to Hall and Kingery as the Phillies stretched their lead to 8-3.
Cruz started the seventh with a single to center off Phillies reliever Luis Ortiz, then was replaced by pinch runner Lolo Sanchez. Rodolfo Castro followed with a double to score Sanchez to cut it to 8-4.
Will Toffey and Jhailyn Ortiz hit solo shots off Tyler Chatwood in the eighth inning to give the Phillies a 10-4 lead.
Johan Oviedo is expected to start when the Pirates host Ryan Weber and the New York Yankees at 1:05 p.m. at LECOM Park in Bradenton.
