Pirates pound 12 hits, ride Wil Crowe's strong start to snap 4-game skid by blanking Phillies

The Pittsburgh Pirates put the tension of the trade deadline and a sorry series against the Milwaukee Brewers behind them and played like a team that had some making up to do Friday night.

The Pirates pounded out 12 hits — one shy of their total over the past three games against the Brewers — and Wil Crowe allowed one hit in six scoreless innings as they blanked the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-0, to snap a four-game losing streak before a crowd of 20,591 at PNC Park.

After the Pirates made three trades by Friday’s 4 p.m. deadline — and six in a span of six days — the remaining players on their roster finally could breathe a sigh of relief. And it showed.

“I think it weighs on you,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The fact that we came out of the gate strong and had really good at-bats (helped). Once you get past (the deadline), there’s probably some people in that room that wondered if they were going to be moved, so maybe it does add a little bit of a sense of relief.”

Crowe (3-5) had the best start of his career, keeping the Phillies off the board even though he had as many walks (four) as strikeouts. Crowe allowed only an Alec Bohm single to start the second then retired the next three batters and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. It took pressure off a bullpen that was down two relievers after lefty Austin Davis and closer Richard Rodriguez were traded just three hours before the game.

“End goal is six scoreless,” Crowe said, “and that’s probably the first time I’ve had a scoreless outing in a long time.”

After being outscored, 31-4, in their previous four games, the Pirates (39-64) got off to a fast start when Ben Gamel doubled to right — the first hit by a Pirates leadoff batter since Adam Frazier was traded Sunday — and scored on a triple by Bryan Reynolds. Gregory Polanco singled to score Reynolds for a 2-0 lead. Rodolfo Castro drove in Polanco with a deep drive to right-center that Bryce Harper misplayed but was ruled a double — the first of Castro’s six career hits that wasn’t a home run.

The Pirates tacked on two more runs in the second. After Crowe was hit by a pitch, Ke’Bryan Hayes drove him in with a double for a 4-0 lead. Polanco singled to score Hayes to make it 5-0.

“The last three or four games, we haven’t scored many runs, so that was good for us, for the team and for Wil, too,” Polanco said. “He had a great start today. That was fun to watch.”

Starter Vince Velasquez (3-6) lasted only two innings for the Phillies (51-52), giving up five runs on six hits.

Crowe got out of a jam in the fourth, when Andrew McCutchen reached on a fielder’s choice and Didi Gregorius and Ronald Torreyes drew back-to-back walks. With the bases loaded and two outs, Crowe got Herrera to line out to shortstop Kevin Newman to escape the inning unscathed.

“That changes the course of the game,” Shelton said, “if that ball goes through.”

The Pirates added two more runs in the fifth. After Chase Anderson walked Polanco and Jacob Stallings, Newman hit a two-out, two-run double to the North Side Notch.

“Definitely good to be past it,” Newman said of the trade deadline. “Definitely a whirlwind for a team, for any team. So it’s definitely good to be focused on who we’ve got and moving forward. Maybe that did play into it today. Maybe we had some clearer minds going out there. I think we just came ready to play and brought our bats and found some gaps.”