Luis Ortiz sharp as Pirates top Phillies to extend winning streak to season-high 6 games

Despite a more fluid role than his fellow pitchers and a background not as sexy compared to some of the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie phenoms, Luis Ortiz has quietly been a major asset for the club this season.

That was on full display Saturday at PNC Park, with Ortiz starting against the Philadelphia Phillies and delivering seven scoreless innings in a 4-1 Pirates win.

Behind Ortiz’s strong start in front of 39,114 fans, the Pirates (50-48) won their sixth straight game, clinching this weekend’s series from their cross-state rivals, who happen to boast the best record in baseball.

“To go seven shutout against that lineup, you have to be able to execute pitches, and he executed all of them probably about as well as we’ve seen him,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Tonight, he had everything going, and he kept one of the best offenses in baseball off-balance.”

Ortiz (5-2, 2.57 ERA) allowed just three hits while walking two and striking out two to record the win.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Andrew McCutchen’s solo homer and Oneil Cruz’s RBI double off Philadelphia starter Cristopher Sanchez put the Pirates up 2-0.

Cruz later blasted a two-run shot in the eighth inning that landed in the Pirates bullpen to put his club ahead 4-0.

In the ninth, the Phillies attempted a rally when Bryce Harper took David Bednar deep for a solo shot, but it was not enough.

Ortiz, who has pitched out of the bullpen in both high-leverage and bulk scenarios, as well as stepping into the starting rotation when needed, maintains a workmanlike attitude about his role.

“My job is just to go out there and do my job,” he said through Pirates assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales. “It doesn’t matter what situation they need me in, I’ll be out there and I’ll be ready. That’s part of my job: to pitch when they hand me the ball.”

Sanchez (7-5, 2.97) kept the Pirates at bay through five innings, quelling several scoring opportunities, but was unable to get through the sixth. That’s when McCutchen took him deep and Cruz roped his double into the right-field corner, scoring Nick Gonzales, who singled and hustled all the way home.

In the eighth, Bryan Reynolds got aboard via a walk before Cruz hit his 15th homer of the year with Phillies reliever Matt Strahm on the mound.

Reynolds went 2 for 3 with a walk, and Cruz battled back from striking out in his first two at-bats to finish 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Aroldis Chapman looked like the player the Pirates hoped they’d be acquiring when signing him to a one-year, $10-million deal this past offseason, as he struck out the side in the eighth, including Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber on 103 mph heaters.

“I don’t know if we’ve seen Chapman that good,” Shelton said. “To go through where he went through (in the Phillies lineup), the fastball was up to 103, the sharpness of the breaking ball. That’s about as sharp as we’ve seen Chapman.”

With a series sweep of the Phillies on the line Sunday notwithstanding, the Pirates are already in uncharted territory when it comes to stacking consecutive wins together.

Their current winning streak eclipses the five-game streak that began the season, after which the club managed just one streak of at least three games between April 6 and July 10.

Now two games over .500 for the first time since April 23, the Pirates, tied in the standings with Arizona, are half a game out of the National League’s third wild-card slot.

“It’s just all-around good baseball,” McCutchen said. “When you play good baseball, you win games. It’s what we’re doing right now. The boys are vibing, and it’s been a good start to the second half, just picking up where we left off before the break.”