Arrieta Ks 10 as Phils blank Bucs

PHILADELPHIA » Jake Arrieta flashed the All-Star form that made Philadelphia covet the freeagent ace, striking out 10 and tossing one-hit ball over seven innings to lead the Phillies to a 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.

Rhys Hoskins homered and Cesar Hernandez had a three-run single to pace the Phillies in their first game back from a 4-2 trip.

The Phillies got vintage Arrieta (2-0) in his best outing since he left the Chicago Cubs for a $75 million, three-year contract that made him the immediate ace of the rotation.

He had his 14th career doubledigit strikeout game and walked two.

Arrieta struck out seven through the first four innings — he had struck out only six over 10 2/3 innings in his first two starts. He wore short sleeves on a night when temperatures dipped into the 30s. The postseason flags whipping in the wind were about the only things with more movement than Arrieta’s fastball.

The Pirates, who lead the Central, are one of the surprise teams in the National League. Against their longtime nemesis, forget it. The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner improved to 11-6 in 21 career starts against Pittsburgh. He struck out 11 and tossed a four-hit shutout against the Pirates in the 2015 NL Wild Card game that included a bench-clearing melee.

He had a unique look in this one.

The Phillies wore powder blue 1970s and ‘80s uniforms that seemed fitting for Arrieta’s throwback outing.

The Phillies haven’t had a winning season since 2011, when they won their fifth straight NL East title. The addition of Arrieta signaled a long, arduous rebuilding process could turn into contention this season. They’ve already had a six-game winning streak — the last three on a sweep at Tampa Bay.

Arrieta was on from the start, striking out Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco to open the game on a pair of 94 mph sinkers. He allowed only an infield single in the second inning.

Hoskins lined his third homer of the season to left and Hernandez made it 4-0 on a bases-loaded single to left off Jameson Taillon (21). Taillon allowed five runs and was chased after 1 1/3 innings.

Yacksel Rios and Victor Arano each tossed a scoreless inning in relief to complete the shutout.

*** After a difficult, early-season series against the Mets, the Phillies were 1-4, roundly unpopular and, it seemed, in early trouble.

Thursday, they returned from a 4-3 road trip at 10-7 and tied for second in the N.L. East. And when the conversation turned toward that improvement before a game against the Pirates, Gabe Kapler outlined almost every logical reason.

One, though, he tried to avoid.

“We pitched deeper into games,” the manager said. “I think we got some big hits. I think our guys were gritty and demonstrated a lot of conviction in their pitches. A lot of things combined to produce a really good road trip for us.”

Then, there was a potential hidden secret to what had been a 9-3 run: Games against Miami, Cincinnati and Tampa Bay before a stop in Atlanta. By Thursday, the Marlins were 5-12, the Rays were 5-13 and the Reds, at 3-15, were firing manager Bryan Price.

Do those analytics not suggest that the Phillies were defeating below-average teams? Bad teams? Very bad teams?

“I’ll say this,” Kapler said. “We don’t really know who the better teams are yet. We’re at the point of the season where if we played the Dodgers, it would be, ‘That’s not one of the better teams.’ But the record (8-9) is not indicative of their true talent.”

Kapler is unwavering in his view of baseball math, convinced that small sample sizes are insignificant. But the Marlins are in one of their rebuilding binges and the Reds already had seen enough to make the change in the dugout.

Either way, the Phillies were proud of their 4-3 road trip.

“We started getting some big hits,” Scott Kingery said. “Guys were stepping up in big spots.”

Eventually, the Phillies will face teams with strong records. And those were the 12-6 Pirates visiting Thursday.

“I think the Pirates have a chance to be a good club,” Kapler said. “But I think the Braves have a chance to be a good club. I think the Rays are a much better team than their record suggests. They are going to pitch. That team is going to pitch.

“A club that may look like a worse club than people thought,” he added, “may not look that way later.”