Pirates slug 5 HRs to rout Phils in finale

PHILADELPHIA — Returning to the Pirates’ rotation and pitching less than an hour away from his hometown, Chad Kuhl was bursting with energy Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. But Andrew McCutchen and the rest of the Bucs’ bats provided the power, crushing five home runs en route to a 15-2 win over the Phillies that secured a four-game series split.

McCutchen went deep twice, fulfilling his pregame promise to former teammate A.J. Burnett, and drove in three runs. John Jaso, Sean Rodriguez and Jordy Mercer also homered. Pittsburgh, fighting to keep its nearly nonexistent postseason hopes alive, set a season high with 15 runs and nine extra-base hits and tied a season high with five homers.

“It shows that we’ve still got it. It’s still in there,” McCutchen said. “We’ve just got to go out and do it. It was a good day to be able to do something like that. Hopefully we can take the momentum into Cincinnati and be able to do the same thing.”

The Pirates provided more than enough support for the well-rested Kuhl, the Delaware native who grew up coming to Phillies games, after he skipped his last start. With more than 100 people in attendance just to see him, Kuhl threw four perfect innings and exited after allowing two runs on four hits while striking out five in six innings.

“Just a ton of fun,” Kuhl said. “It lived up to everything and was way more emotional than I thought it would be.”

Four of the Pirates’ home runs came off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff, who yielded only one other hit in 6 2/3 innings. Philadelphia scraped together two runs off Kuhl in the fifth inning, a rally keyed by doubles from Tommy Joseph and Aaron Altherr. But the Pirates put the game far out of reach with an eight-run ninth inning. Josh Bell, David Freese and Jung Ho Kang added more extra-base power during the two-out rally, ripping a trio of doubles that helped pad the Pirates’ lead. Pittsburgh ended the night with 13 hits, only four of them singles.

“The only thing that gave me any solace at all tonight was looking up at the scoreboard and seeing Kansas City losing 14-0,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “That’s about all I can say.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDLeadoff launch: Back in the leadoff spot for the first time since Aug. 2, and returning to the lineup for his first start since Saturday, Jaso wasted little time before making an impact. Jaso finished an eight-pitch at-bat by crushing a home run to center field off Eickhoff. The solo shot came off Jaso’s bat at 103 mph, according to Statcast™, and traveled a projected 412 feet. It was Jaso’s sixth homer of the season and the seventh of his career to lead off a …

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