Pirates' 5-run rally in 9th inning not enough in loss to Phillies

On the 21st anniversary of one of the most improbable comebacks in PNC Park history, the Pittsburgh Pirates trailed the Philadelphia Phillies by the same score going into the bottom of the ninth as they did the Houston Astros so many moons ago.

This time, there would be no game-winning grand slam.

But the Pirates certainly made it interesting.

After riding Zack Wheeler’s three-hitter over seven innings and Kyle Schwarber’s three-run homer, the Phillies hung on for dear life for an 8-7 win as the Pirates rallied for five runs in the ninth inning Thursday night before 20,701 at PNC Park.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Pirates, who started a seven-game homestand against the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers. They were hoping for a repeat of their 9-8 win over the Astros on July 28, 2001, when Brian Giles ended a two-out, seven-run rally in the ninth with a walk-off slam to cap a comeback from an 8-2 deficit.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton wasn’t aware of the historical coincidence, though he would have preferred a different outcome.

“I wish we would have got to seven,” Shelton said. “That would have been a whole (heck) of a lot better. I’m telling you that.”

The Pirates trailed the Phillies, 8-2, going into the bottom of the ninth when Greg Allen and Cal Mitchell hit one-out singles to right field and Josh VanMeter drew a walk to load the bases against righty reliever Jeurys Familia.

Tyler Heineman hit a two-run single to center to score Allen and Mitchell and cut it to 8-4.

That put runners on first and third for Kevin Newman, who tripled to the North Side Notch to score VanMeter and Heineman and make it 8-6. Newman scored on an Oneil Cruz groundout to second, and it was a one-run game.

But Ke’Bryan Hayes flied out to right to end it.

“We had some fight in the last few innings,” said Mitchell, who went 3 for 4 with two RBIs after batting .171 (7 for 41) in his previous 14 games. “Looking like it might have gone our way there at the end out there with one. Those moments feel great in the dugout with everybody.”

The Pirates were missing the pop of center fielder Bryan Reynolds, who was placed on paternity leave after the birth of a baby boy Wednesday, and their bats got off to a slow start.

The Phillies, by contrast, hit Zach Thompson hard from the start. Rhys Hoskins singled to left and Alec Bohm blasted a 105.9-mph liner past shortstop Cruz to set up designated hitter Darick Hall’s 385-foot, two-run triple that right fielder Bligh Madris couldn’t catch at the wall. Nick Castellanos followed with an RBI single to left to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Thompson (3-8) gave up seven hits on 48 pitches through the first two innings, and Bohm singled to score Matt Vierling in the second inning as the Phillies stretched their lead to 4-0.

Wheeler (9-5) allowed two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out eight. He gave up a leadoff single to Newman and didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning.

After Bohm made a beautiful barehanded scoop and throw to get the speedy Allen out on a bunt down the third-base line, designated hitter Mitchell singled to left. Mitchell was stranded when VanMeter flew out to center and Heineman went down swinging.

Where Wheeler was efficient, throwing 60 pitches through the first five innings, Thompson fell one shy of 100 in only 5 2/3 innings. He gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Vierling and Garrett Stubbs in the sixth, then threw a 3-1 changeup that Schwarber smacked 406 feet to center at a 109.6-mph exit velocity for his 32nd home run and a 7-0 lead.

Didi Gregorius hit an RBI single off Chris Stratton to score Castellanos in the seventh to stretch the Phillies’ lead to 8-0.

“There’s always going to be tough games played or games where we go down early,” Mitchell said. “Fighting out of that at the end definitely (adds) some confidence, some reassurance to a clubhouse that we can come back from tough games.”

The Pirates finally got to Wheeler in the seventh, which started with a false alarm as Ben Gamel blasted a ball that sailed just outside the right-field foul pole before going down looking at a called third strike. Madris drew a four-pitch walk, and Mitchell crushed a two-out, 2-2 fastball 414 feet to center for his third home run to trim the deficit to 8-2.

That sparked the ninth-inning rally that came up a run short.

“There’s a lot of positives,” Shelton said. “We faced one of the best pitchers in the National League to start the game, and I thought Wheeler was really good. Our guys continued to grind through at-bats, and their closer had to come in the game to finish it and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game, so I give our guys a ton of credit. The one thing we’ve talked a lot about with this group is these guys continue to play, regardless of the score, regardless of the game.”