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Pirates rally late to upend Phillies

Aug 19, 2007 - 11:54 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Through the seventh-inning stretch Sunday, Kyle Lohse and the Philadelphia Phillies appeared to be cruising to their fifth victory in their past seven games. Then the bottom fell out.

The Pittsburgh Pirates used a seven-run seventh inning en route to a 8-4 come-from-behind victory during a chilly afternoon contest in Pittsburgh that featured two rain delays.

Matt Kata had a pinch-hit three-run double and Xavier Nady had two hits and two RBI for the last-place Pirates, who have won three of four.

"We did an awful lot of good things in this game," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "It's a great win, and there were a lot of different contributors to it."

Russel Branyan hit his ninth home run and Jimmy Rollins his 22nd for the Phillies, who fell five games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets and allowed the Atlanta Braves to move within a half-game of second place.

"I'm angry," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, whose team also blew a 4-0 lead Saturday. "I feel like we definitely had a chance to sweep the series, but we didn't do it when we had to. We let the game slip away from us - both of them."

After the game started 44 minute late, Rollins led off the contest with his homer to right-center. It was his 23rd career leadoff homer and sixth this season - both Phillies records.

When Branyan hit his homer in the sixth - his second in his past five at bats - the Phillies had a 4-0 lead and it looked as if they would leave town with their fourth consecutive series victory.

"We were going pretty smooth there for six innings," Lohse said. "Then we kind of hit a snag, and it kind of snowballed."

Lohse, making his fourth start with the Phillies since being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds July 30, entered the game 2-0 with an 0.48 ERA lifetime against the Pirates.

He pitched a six-hit complete game shutout against them May 28 and was on his way to another such sterling performance Sunday. He faced the minimum through 4 2/3 innings and had a three-hit shutout going into the seventh.

But then things turned sour for the Phillies. With it still 4-0 and only Xaiver Nady on first and two outs, Jose Bautista singled and pinch-hitter Josh Phelps walked. That's when Kata delivered his double to left-center on a 2-0 pitch that cleared the bases.

"It was a situation with the bases loaded where right there the last thing (Loshe) wants to do is go 3-0," said Kata, who had a pinch-hit homer Friday night. "I got my fastball and put a good swing on it."

J.C. Romero (0-1) relieved Lohse and gave up a game-tying double to Nate McLouth. Two batters later, Sanchez doubled off of Antonio Alfonseca to score McLouth and give Pittsburgh the lead, 5-4. After an intentional walk to Adam LaRoche, Nady's single scored Jack Wilson and Sanchez to make it 7-4.

"You've got to keep battling," Sanchez said. "We had two great at bats from Phelps and Kata, and were able to win a ballgame."

One of those was Pirates starter Ian Snell (8-10), who earned a win despite having left the game down 4-0. He had not won since July 4 and had not started a game Pittsburgh had won since the All-Star break. Snell struck out 10 in allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks in seven innings.

"It's like a weight lifted off my shoulders," Snell said of his first victory in more than six weeks. "I'm tired of (everyone) talking about it."

The teams endured a 63-minute delay and then another 24-minute rain delay in the middle of the eighth.

"It was frustrating, obviously, having to wait and then start and then wait and then start again," Rowand said. "It was a difficult way to finish the game. These are two tough losses."