PHILADELPHIA — Vance Worley insisted he felt no extra adrenaline rush in his return to Philadelphia for his second career start against the team that drafted him.

Perhaps he could have used some.

The righty lasted just four innings and failed to strike out a batter for the second consecutive game as the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 4-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Worley (2-3) allowed three runs — one earned — on eight hits and a walk.

“I wasn’t around the zone, not locating well at all,” he said. “It’s all about execution. Mechanically I was a little off, just a little out of sync.”

Aaron Harang (4-3) scattered five hits over eight scoreless innings and Ryan Howard hit his team-high seventh home run for Philadelphia.

Howard had three hits to snap an 0-for-9 skid as the Phillies won their second straight to match their longest winning streak of the season and salvage a split in the four-game series.

“We just tried to get to them early,” Howard said, “and we were able to get ahead and let Aaron do his thing.”

The Pirates avoided a shutout when Starling Marte doubled to deep center field off Ken Giles with one out in the ninth, scoring Josh Harrison.

Jonathan Papelbon, who became the Phillies’ career franchise saves leader Wednesday night, recorded the final two outs for his eighth save in eight chances this season. Marte scored on Pedro Alvarez’s groundout to first.

“We had a chance to win the series but were not able to do it,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We didn’t handle the ball as well as we should have. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Harang settled into a groove after escaping trouble in the first inning, when he needed 27 pitches and left two runners in scoring position.