Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — What the heck, Dodgers? Losing four out of five to the Pirates? Not cool. But still, it happened. The Pirates got a couple of early homers off Julio Urias (on his bobblehead night, no less), and held on to post a 5-3 victory to assure the Pirates of a series victory. Ugh.
Another two homers, another hole to climb out of
For the second straight night, the Dodgers spotted the Pirates some runs in the early going. This time, it was Julio Urias who did the honors, surrendering two-run home runs in both the first and second inning to fall behind the visiting Pirates 4-0. In the first, it was Michael Chavis who bopped a dinger on an 0-2 count that score Ke’Bryan Hayes in front of him. Then, in the second, “Dodger killer” Tucapita Marcano hit his second career homer (and second of the series) to give the Pirates a four-run lead.
Urias continued to be in trouble in the third, loading up the bases on three straight one-out singles. However, he dug deep and came up with two straight K’s, and escaped with no damage. After that, he settled down considerably, but left the game after six innings, giving up only the four early runs. Not a great start, but a good finish. His line for the night: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 8 K.
Turner blast halves the deficit
The Dodgers didn’t have a whole lot of offense in this one, but made the most of what they did get. Their biggest inning was the third, in which they scored a pair. Mookie Betts led off with a walk, but was erased on a fielder’s choice that left Freddie Freeman on first. Then, the big blow. Trea Turner stepped in and ripped the first pitch he saw from starter Mitch Keller. It sailed over the the left field fence and the Dodgers were back in the ballgame, now trailing 4-2.
Dodgers pull to within one, but give it back in the 9th
The Dodgers had their chances in this one, getting multiple baserunners on walks during the evening. However, they weren’t able to cash in on much. They did scratch one across in the bottom of the sixth. It seemed like a big inning might be in store, when Justin Turner led off with a walk and moved to third on Chris Taylor single, but after that the inning kind of fizzled. They were able to tally one run when strike three to Kevin Pillar went to the screen for a passed ball, and Turner scored easily from third to make it 4-3 Pirates.
However, in the top of the ninth the Pirates got to David Price, who had looked pretty good in the eighth. However, fellow Vandy Boy Bryan Reynolds assaulted a Price sinker and drilled it two the gap to score a run from second to make it 5-3.
And unfortunately, that is where it stayed. The Dodgers went quietly in 9th, and nothing even came close to being a hit.
Dodgers try to salvage a game in the finale
The Dodgers get one last crack at the Bucs on Wednesday. Mitch White is charged with breaking this two-game skid in the game, toeing the rubber against the Pirates’ best pitcher so far this year, Jose Quintana. The game has an early start time: 5:10 pm first pitch. So that will make rush hour traffic fun.
Cans of Corn…
- Tonight was Dave Roberts‘ 50th birthday. Sorry about the L, Doc.
- Dodgers got a bunch of walks in this one, but were 0-6 with RISP.
- Freddie Freeman made an out trying to stretch a single into a double when the Dodgers needed just one run to tie. May have been ill advised.
- The Bazooka was a little wild at first, but settled down and managed to have his usual weak-contact performance in the seventh, and then had a couple of K’s in the eighth.
- Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney are slated to do a rehab start sometime this week. Hopefully, they’ll be back in the rotation soon.
