PHILADELPHIA -- Starling Marte had turned toward a crowd of media at his locker when a passing teammate cracked a one-liner about the soft-spoken outfielder. Lew Reeve Jersey Store . "What do they think theyll get out of Marte," he asked. In words, maybe not much. At the plate, enough to keep Pittsburgh in the hunt for a second straight playoff spot. Marte hit a two-run homer and fell a triple short of the cycle to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 on Monday night. Jeff Locke (7-4) struck out nine over seven strong innings to help the Pirates go up 1 1-2 games on Milwaukee and Atlanta for the second wild card. "The second wild card has opened up so many opportunities for so many teams, so many cities," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Its been so exciting for fans. For more teams to try and pay attention to it would be chaotic." Locke and Kyle Kendrick (8-12) were in pitchers duel until Pittsburgh bust open a one-run lead with four runs in the eighth. The Pirates won their fourth straight and are 65-50 since May 2. Marte has been a big reason for the hot streak. He singled, doubled and homered in his first three plate appearances and extended his hitting streak to eight games. Hes batting .358 (38 for 106) with six homers and a 1.018 OPS over his last 28 games. "Ive been more comfortable," he said. "We are in a very good spot right now." Mark Melancon tossed a scoreless ninth for his 27th save. Locke, who improved to 4-0 lifetime against the Phillies, retired the first 10 batters until Jimmy Rollins hit a one-out triple in the fourth. He scored on Ryan Howards single and 92nd RBI of the season. Locke, though, fanned Howard twice and struck out at least one batter in every inning. His nine Ks were a season high and three more than he had combined in his last three starts (6). Locke rebounded nicely after lasting only 3-plus innings in a loss to St. Louis in his last start. He gave up just one run and kept the Pirates in contention for another playoff berth. "He had his best performance of the season," Hurdle said. "Locke pitched as good a game as we could have ever hoped for him to pitch tonight." The Pirates gave reason for their fans to cheer -- and plenty did, with "Lets Go Pirates!" echoing through a mostly barren Citizens Bank Park with every rally. Martes 11th homer gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the fifth. The Pirates chased Kendrick in the eighth, with Neil Walker, Jordy Mercer and Brent Morel all producing run-scoring hits and Gabby Sanchez chipped in with a sacrifice fly. The Pirates are 4-0 against the Phillies this season, beating up on the bad teams a necessity in any playoff push. "If we play our best ball in the 19 remaining games, well get in," Hurdle said. TRAINERS ROOM Pirates: INF Josh Harrison was out of the lineup for a third straight game after aggravating a left ankle injury in the completion of a suspended game on Saturday. Harrison was available to pinch hit. ... INF Pedro Alvarezs left foot injury is not improving as much they would have hoped and he also sat out. He did travel with the team to Philadelphia. Phillies: Rollins was replaced by Freddy Galvis for the top of the fifth. Rollins strained his left hamstring after legging out a one-out triple in the fourth. Rollins has played in 138 of 143 games this season. Rollins said he expected to miss at least 10 games. "Just one of those things reaching out for the bag," Rollins said. "It isnt that severe." UP NEXT Pirates: Edinson Volquez (11-7, 3.31 ERA) has won seven of his last eight decisions and his 10-4 overall in his last 21 starts. He is 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in five career starts against the Phillies. Phillies: David Buchanan (6-7, 3.95 ERA) has three straight no-decisions and hasnt won a game since Aug. 6. He took the loss after allowing three runs against the Pirates on July 5. BATTING CROWN: Phillies OF Ben Revere went 0 for 4 and saw his average dip to .313 as he chases the NL batting crown. Colorados Justin Morneau was batting .316. Harrison was hitting .315. Don Wells Jersey Store . He insists hes not counting. "If youre thinking hits, youre not paying attention to wins," Altuve said Sunday after leading the Houston Astros past the Texas Rangers 3-2. Bill Baumgartner Jersey Store . As Valanciunas was whistled for a rare technical toward the end of the third quarter - a result of waving his hand at an official after being called for a foul - Lowry pulled the Raptors sophomore aside, corralling him by his jersey and patting him on the back. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/ . They signed their first kicker. Ottawa inked Nick Setta, a 32-year-old native of Lockport, Illinois, to a contract.SAN FRANCISCO -- Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers would prefer to be talking about how well Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have played against the Golden State Warriors. Or how his team has defended Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Or just about anything that has happened on the court in the first-round playoff series. Instead, Rivers and his players spent Saturday talking about how they would respond to an audio recording of a man identified as Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to games. "The fact that I had to spend 45 minutes in a meeting instead of watching film did not make me happy," Rivers said. Whether the comments -- which drew sharp criticism and calls for action from around the NBA -- effect the Clippers in Game 4 against the Warriors is all that worries Rivers right now. Los Angeles leads the series 2-1 and has looked every bit like a championship contender in winning the past two games. Chasing a title is the reason Rivers said players decided against protesting or even boycotting the game. They want to win for each other, he said, and not for Sterling or anyone else. "For me, I want to focus on my guys. I came here for them. They came here for each other. Our goals have not changed," Rivers said passionately after the Clippers practice at the University of San Francisco. "Its like one of the players said, Hey, when I was a kid, I had a goal to win a world championship. It was to do that. It wasnt to win a world championship for someone." Clippers point guard Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association, released a statement through the union that said "this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively." Paul and Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin declined further comment on the issue after practice. Other players were not made available as Rivers said he would speak for the team. "A lot of guys voiced their opinions. None of them were happy about it," Rivers said. "This was a situation where were trying to go after something very important for us, something that weve all dreamed about all our childhoods. Ken Panfil Jersey Store. Donald or anyone else had nothing to do with that dream, and were not going to let anything get in the way of those dreams." Sterling, a real estate owner who has a decades-long history of alleged discrimination and offensive behaviour, made his team the centre of NBA attention for all the wrong reasons again. In a recording posted on TMZs website, a man reported to be Sterling questions his girlfriends association with minorities. Clippers President Andy Roeser said in statement that the team did not know if the tape is legitimate or has been altered. Roeser also said the views expressed on the recording do not reflect Sterlings beliefs and that the woman on the tape -- identified by TMZ as V. Stiviano -- "is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would get even." Sterling has not commented on the situation. Left in the aftermath was Rivers and his players facing more than 50 reporters at the Clippers practice Saturday. A day earlier, only about a dozen were at the teams hotel for the interview session. Most players ignored the added attention. Jamal Crawford looked over and laughed. Hedo Turkoglu jokingly shouted and smiled as he attempted shots. All that the hoopla meant for the Clippers as a team, Rivers said, was one monumental "distraction" before its biggest game of the season. "In a weird way, Im sure Golden State is having a ball right now because were not talking about them," Rivers said. Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said "theres no place" for Sterlings alleged remarks but his team would remain focused on the game. His players echoed those sentiments, saying they wouldnt be deterred by one mans beliefs -- no matter how offensive. Rivers also said the audio recording would not serve as motivation for his team. "Were playing Golden State, and Golden State is our enemy right now," Rivers said. "Thats where were going to keep it, and thats where we want to keep it." ' ' '