Ranger Suarez, Phillies shut down Pirates

Ranger Suarez pitched six dominant innings and the Philadelphia Phillies hit three home runs to power past the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Thursday.

Philadelphia, which hadn't logged an extra-base hit in its previous two games, got a solo home run from Alec Bohm and two-run shots from Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott.

Suarez (2-0) limited Pittsburgh to two singles and struck out eight while walking two. The left-hander exited with a 1-0 lead thanks to Bohm blasting a hanging breaking ball into the Phillies' bullpen in center field with two outs in the fourth inning.

Bohm had two of Philadelphia's seven hits and made a sliding catch in foul territory on the third base side to secure the Phillies' second straight win.

Marsh pushed Philadelphia's lead to 3-0 in the seventh on an opposite-field home run initially ruled as an RBI double. A replay review determined that the drive cleared the wall in the left-center field for Marsh's fourth home run of the season, which scored J.T. Realmuto from first base.

Marsh's blast chased Pirates starter Jared Jones (1-2), who surrendered three runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. Jones struck out eight without walking a batter.

The Phillies capitalized on a Pittsburgh defensive gaffe to add on later in the seventh inning. Nick Castellanos reached second base after he lofted a lazy fly ball that Pittsburgh center fielder Michael A. Taylor missed as he nearly collided with right fielder Edward Olivares.

Stott then stepped up and crushed a 96 mph sinker off Colin Holderman deep into the right-center-field seats to grow Philadelphia's lead to 5-0.

Phillies reliever Yunior Marte struck out three batters in the seventh inning before Nick Nelson secured the final six outs as the Phillies improved to 7-6, marking the first time this season they are above .500.

Jared Triolo lined a two-out RBI single in the ninth inning to help the Pirates avoid their first shutout loss this season. Olivarez's two hits led Pittsburgh, which struck out 14 times.