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Halladay stifles Bucs, Pence headed to Philly

Jul 30, 2011 - 3:20 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Roy Halladay went seven scoreless innings and Chase Utley hit a three-run home run and drove in four as Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh, 10-3, but that wasn't the big news of the night for the Phillies.

The NL East leaders have acquired All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence from the Houston Astros.

"I think he's a very hard, hustling player" said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel about his new player. "He likes to play and he gives you everything he's got. He's strong, he can hit the other way, he's a tremendous player."

The Phils have nabbed the player they wanted for minor leaguers Jonathan Singleton, Josh Zeid and Jarred Cosart along with a player to be named later.

Halladay (13-4) gave up just one hit with five strikeouts to win his second straight start while Jimmy Rollins added a two-run home run for the Phils, who were coming off a three-game set against San Francisco that saw the team drop the final two games.

Charlie Morton (8-6) was tagged with the loss and was pulled after four innings as he gave up eight runs -- six earned -- on nine hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Pedro Ciriaco had a pinch-hit, two-run double in the loss.

"The first two innings he couldn't get the ball down," said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle about Morton. "We saw better stuff and results after the damage was done, which was unfortunate but I guess it's something to build on."

The Phillies jumped on Morton in the first inning for three runs. With Domonic Brown on first, Utley tripled off the wall in right and Ryan Howard followed with a double. After Shane Victorino singled, Raul Ibanez's base hit made it a 3-0 game.

The second inning saw Philly bat around and make it an 8-0 game. With one out, and Wilson Valdez on first, Rollins singled and Brown was able to reach base on a Neil Walker error, scoring Valdez. Utley followed by drilling a pitch over the wall in left. Valdez later worked a bases loaded walk to score Victorino.

"Obviously trying to get early runs is important," said Utley. "I thought we had some good at-bats the first two innings and we're able to hit some balls where they weren't. And, like normal, Doc pitched a great game."

Halladay, meanwhile, was dealing on the mound as he didn't give up a hit until Xavier Paul led off the fourth with a single.

After that, he retired the next 12 batters he faced before being pulled out of the game following the seventh inning.

Rollins hit a two-run home run in the seventh to make it a 10-0 contest.

The Pirates got on the board in the eighth off of Drew Carpenter as Ciriaco hit a two-run double and scored on Paul's single.

Game Notes

Howard is two hits away from 1,000 for his career...The Phillies are 64-29 at home versus the NL Central since the start of the 2007 season...The Phillies and the Braves are the only teams to have not been swept in a three games or more series this season...The Pirates took two of three from the Phillies in Pittsburgh in early June...The Phillies are 10-0 in each Halladay's last 10 home starts.