Rollins leaves Phillies’ loss with injury

DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies can add shortstop Jimmy Rollins to their lengthy list of losses.

Rollins strained his left hamstring after legging out a one-out triple in the fourth inning of Philadelphia’s 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

Starling Marte hit a two-run homer and Jeff Locke (7-4) struck out nine in seven innings to help the Pirates keep their grip on the second NL wild card. They entered with a half-game lead ahead of Milwaukee and Atlanta.

Rollins, who has played in 138 of 143 games this season, said he expected to miss up to 10 games.

“Just one of those things reaching out for the bag,” he said. “It isn’t that severe.”

The big wins keep rolling for the Pirates.

Locke and Kyle Kendrick (8-12) were in pitcher’s duel until Pittsburgh scored four times in the eighth. The Pirates won their fourth straight and are 65-50 since May 2.

“The second wild card has opened up so many opportunities for so many teams, so many cities,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s been so exciting for fans. For more teams to try and pay attention to it would be chaotic.”

Marte has been a big reason for the hot streak. He singled, doubled and homered in his first three plate appearances. He’s batting .358 (38 for 106) with six homers over his last 28 games.

“I’ve been more comfortable,” he said.

Mark Melancon tossed a scoreless ninth for his 27th save.

Locke, who improved to 4-0 lifetime against the Phillies, retired his first 10 batters before Rollins’ triple in the fourth. He scored on Ryan Howard’s single and 92nd RBI of the season.

Locke, though, fanned Howard twice and struck out at least one batter in every inning. His nine Ks were a season high and three more than he had combined in his last three starts. Locke rebounded nicely after lasting only three-plus innings in a loss to St. Louis in his last start.

He gave up just one run and kept the Pirates in contention for another playoff berth.

“He had his best performance of the season,” Hurdle said. “Locke pitched as good a game as we could have ever hoped for him to pitch tonight.”

The Pirates gave reason for their fans to cheer — and plenty did, with “Let’s Go Pirates!” echoing through a mostly barren Citizens Bank Park with every rally.

Marte’s 11th homer gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the fifth. The Pirates chased Kendrick in the eighth, with Neil Walker, Jordy Mercer and Brent Morel all producing run-scoring hits and Gabby Sanchez chipping in with a sacrifice fly.

The Pirates are 4-0 against the Phillies this season, beating up on the bad teams a necessity in any playoff push.

“If we play our best ball in the 19 remaining games, we’ll get in,” Hurdle said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: INF Josh Harrison was out of the lineup for a third straight game after aggravating a left ankle injury in the completion of a suspended game on Saturday. Harrison was available to pinch-hit. … INF Pedro Alvarez’s left foot injury is not improving as much they would have hoped and he also sat out. He did travel with the team to Philadelphia.

Phillies: Rollins was replaced by Freddy Galvis for the top of the fifth. “It was nothing too serious, but enough to take me out of the game,” he said.

UP NEXT

Pirates: Edinson Volquez (11-7, 3.31 ERA) has won seven of his last eight decisions. He is 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in five career starts against the Phillies.

Phillies: David Buchanan (6-7, 3.95 ERA) has three straight no-decisions and hasn’t won a game since Aug. 6. He took the loss after allowing three runs against the Pirates on July 5.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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