PHILADELPHIA _ Josh Bell played the savior twice Thursday night. His fourth-inning home run erased a deficit and his eighth-inning double broke a tie during the Pirates' 6-3 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
The Pirates (40-46) took three of four from the Phillies but remain seven games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates have a quick turnaround: After a late flight, they begin a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs Friday at 1:20 local time.
The Phillies had pulled even at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Andrew McCutchen hit his second double of the night with one out in the eighth. Bell pulled a double just inside first base to drive in McCutchen.
The hit came with a price. Aaron Altherr's throw drilled Bell in the lower back and sent him crumpling to the wet infield dirt, but he stayed in. Gregory Polanco, who went 4 for 4 with a homer, singled to drive in Bell and Elias Diaz followed with an RBI double.
Chad Kuhl pitched into the seventh inning for the first time since his second start of the season, April 13 against the Boston Red Sox. He did not allow a runner into scoring position until his final inning. In seven innings, his longest start of his career, he gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits, all but one of them a single. But that one double, from Tommy Joseph in the seventh, hurt.
Maikel Franco singled with one out in the seventh before Joseph lined a ball to left field, putting runners on second and third for Altherr. Altherr split the gap in left-center to drive in both runners and tie the game at 3-3.
The 1993-2012 Pirates had some inventive ways to allow runs, but in the recent, competitive era, the way the Phillies first scored Thursday was a new one.
Catcher Andrew Knapp reached on a leadoff walk in the third inning. The next batter, Andres Blanco, swung and missed at a pitch and sent his bat flying into the seats down the first-base line. Bell, who had taken a few steps away from the bag as the pitch was thrown, turned and watched the flying lumber.
Another projectile would soon pass in front of his gaze: the ball. Elias Diaz threw to first to back-pick Knapp, but Bell, watching the bat, didn't see it. The ball whizzed into the right-field corner. Knapp lumbered to second. Polanco got a late jump on retrieving the throw. Knapp steamed toward third. Polanco finally got there and threw in, but the catcher had already crossed the plate.
Such sloppiness was not an isolated incident Thursday. Two consecutive Phillies batters, Altherr and Odubel Herrera, singled to left only to get thrown out badly trying for second. Altherr knocked one off the wall. Herrera blooped one down the line. Jose Osuna threw them both out and became the first Pirates outfielder with assists on consecutive plays in one inning since Gary Alexander in 1981.
As it happened, Osuna threw Altherr out trying to advance after his two-run single and became the first Pirates outfielder with three assists in a game since Cecil Espy in 1991.
Bell atoned for the play the following inning. With McCutchen on second, Bell lofted an opposite-field homer, his 16th, to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Bell passed Ralph Kiner for the most home runs by a rookie before the All-Star break in franchise history.
Polanco followed two batters later with a rocket home run to right, his seventh.
