Pirates 6, Phillies 4: Jeff Locke struck out nine in seven dominant innings and Starling Marte belted a two-run homer as visiting Pittsburgh topped Philadelphia in the opener of a four-game series.

Marte and Andrew McCutchen each finished with three hits while Jordy Mercer and Brent Morel had two-hit games for the Pirates, who closed within 4 1/2 games of first-place St. Louis in the National League Central and sit 1 1/2 games up on Milwaukee, both in the division and in the battle for the second wild-card spot. Locke (7-4) gave up one run and three hits without a walk to continue his career dominance of the Phillies.

Chase Utley drove in two runs for Philadelphia while Ryan Howard and Cesar Hernandez had one RBI apiece. Kyle Kendrick (8-12) pitched well until running into trouble in the eighth inning and was charged with five runs and nine hits with eight strikeouts in seven-plus frames.

Marte's fifth-inning homer staked Pittsburgh to a 2-1 lead before the visitors added four runs in the eighth. Neil Walker had an RBI single and came around to score on Gaby Sanchez's sacrifice fly before Mercer delivered an RBI double and scored on Morel's two-base hit, making it 6-1.

Utley's two-run triple highlighted the Phillies' three-run eighth before Marlon Byrd, representing the go-ahead run, grounded into a fielder's choice against Tony Watson. Mark Melancon had no issues in the ninth in wrapping up his 27th save as Pittsburgh improved to 4-0 against Philadelphia this season.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Pirates have 31 hits over the last two games. ... Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins left with a hamstring strain that he suffered legging out a triple in the fourth. He is expected to miss at least a week. ... Locke is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA in four career starts against Philadelphia.