PITTSBURGH _ The Phillies had the makings of a rally on Sunday afternoon when Rhys Hoskins and Odubel Herrera reached base to start the sixth inning.
They were down three runs, but more than half of the Phillies' wins this season have started with a deficit. This felt like another come-from-behind win. But as quickly as that feeling surfaced, it was gone. Carlos Santana popped up in foul territory. Nick Williams went down swinging. Scott Kingery struck out.
The rally was over and the Phillies were three outs closer to a 4-1 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park. The offense stalled on Sunday after scoring 17 runs on Friday and rallying for a late win on Saturday. The Phillies finished a win shy of their first sweep at PNC Park and their first sweep in Pittsburgh since 1998 at Three Rivers Stadium. It was the Phillies' first loss since June 29, snapping a six-game winning streak.
Drew Anderson, who arrived in the morning from Triple A, was roughed up in his first major-league start and the Phillies mustered just four hits. They opted to start Anderson and save Zach Eflin and Aaron Nola for Monday's doubleheader with the Mets. Anderson allowed four runs in five innings. Anderson was an out away from finishing a scoreless fourth inning before Nick Kingham, the opposing pitcher, lifted a two-run double over the head of Hoskins in left field.
Anderson threw a flat curveball instead of challenging Kingham with a fastball. Kingham, who was hitless in his previous 12 at-bats, jumped on it. The Pirates tacked on another run to cap a three-run rally after Williams homered to tie the score at 1 in the top of fourth. The Phillies needed Anderson to give them a shutdown inning and he came up one pitch short.
