Steve Webb
McKinney, Muncy power Dodgers to 2-1 over Pirates
LOS ANGELES — If ever there were a trap game, this one was it. The Dodgers came home after a very successful road trip. Came home on a very late flight after pulverizing the New York Mets on national TV. Came home with a bare cupboard of starting pitchers. Came home to face the lowly Pirates. And yet, for all the reasons they could have lost focus, they found a way not to. They cobbled together another great bullpen game and got two late solo homers from Billy McKinney and Max Muncy and came from behind to beat Pittsburgh 2-1.
Bruihl the opener, Jackson debuts
With no starting pitcher anywhere to be seen, skipper Dave Roberts decided to go with a couple of rookies to start this one at the Ravine. Justin Bruihl, who made his big league debut barely a week ago was tapped to be the opener. Prospect Andre Jackson was in line to be the bulk guy on the night, fresh off a call-up from OKC. And darned if they both didn’t deliver.
Bruihl gave up just one hit in a scoreless first. Jackson, in his first outing in the majors, acquitted himself very well indeed. He had some control issues, to be sure. But other than his four free passes, Jackson only gave up two hits and struck out five along the way. The Dodgers couldn’t have asked for anything more from the righty than the four scoreless innings he delivered on Monday.
Dodgers bats jetlagged
Jackson just might have gotten the win tonight if the Dodgers bats had woken up a little earlier. But Pirates lefty Steven Brault was putting up his own string of zeroes against the Dodgers. Through Brault’s 5.2 innings of work, the Dodgers only managed three hits and a walk, and the game rolled into the seventh inning locked in a scoreless tie.
Pirates score one thanks to shoddy D
After Alex Vesia pitched an efficient and scoreless sixth inning for the Dodgers, Brusdar Graterol came on to pitch the seventh with no score on the board. Unfortunately, the Bazooka ran into trouble, some of it of his own making. He hit the leadoff man Gregory Polanco, never a good start to an inning. Then, to make matter worse, Trea Turner couldn’t come up with a groundball to short (where he was starting for Corey Seager, who got the night off). Suddenly the Pirates had something cooking in the inning without the benefit of a hit.
The next hitter, pinch hitter Wilmer Difo attempted a sacrifice bunt to the right side. Cody Bellinger, who had been inserted at first, fielded the ball cleanly. Unfortunately, Belli’s throw to the first base bag sailed past Max Muncy and into foul territory, allowing Polanco to score from second. So to recap: One HBP. One Fielding Error. One Throwing Error. One run for the Pirates. Not great.
McKinney ties it up
Luckily, Blake Treinen came into the game and ended the threat on one pitch, so what could have been a complete meltdown disaster ended up with only a 0-1 deficit for the Dodgers. And as luck would have it, the Dodgers weren’t down for long. In the bottom of the seventh, they got some unexpected power from the seven-hole in the lineup.
Billy McKinney, starting again in place of Mookie Betts, ripped a pitch from reliever Anthony Banda deep into the right field pavilion to tie the game. McKinney had been putting together a bunch of workman-like at-bats prior to Sunday’s game in New York, but hadn’t had much to show for it. Now, McKinney has hit a triple and a homer in successive games. More of this, please.
Max for the go-ahead
After another inning of just filthy stuff from Treinen, the Dodgers went into the bottom of the eighth looking to break the tie. Trea Turner put good wood on a pitch from new reliever Chasen Shreve, but second baseman Rodolfo Castro had him played perfectly and caught the hot liner for the first out. However, there was no defense that could have stopped what Max Muncy did a few pitches later. He totally demolished a 1-1 four-seamer and sent it deep, deep, deep into the right field seats. The tie was broken, and the Dodgers were heading into the ninth with the lead.
Jansen saves the game
With no margin for error, Kenley Jansen answered the bell for the ninth inning. He got a strikeout to the lead-off man, thanks to some friendly calls from the home plate ump and then toed the rubber against former Dodger Yoshi Tsutsugo, who had just joined the Pirates after a long stint with the OKC Dodgers. In a nice piece of hitting, Tsutsugo went the other way with a Jansen fastball and had himself a double to the left field corner.
Now, the go-ahead run stepped to the plate with the tying run in scoring position. Time for the big fella to earn that paycheck. And that he did. He induced a weak ground ball to first from rookie Hoy Park for the second out of the inning. Then, two pitches later, he got Ke’Bryan Hayes to do almost exactly the same thing for the final out of the game. Game over. Dodgers win 2-1. Hit it, Randy Newman!
David Price to the mound on Tuesday
David Price will be the Dodgers starter in the middle game of the series on Tuesday night. He’ll be facing righty Will Crow (3-7, 5.27). The Dodgers, now 9-3 in August, are still four games out, as those nasty Giants won a back-and-forth affair up at Oracle Park tonight, so no change in the that part of the standings. It is, however, worth noting that the San Diego Padres are continuing to scuffle through this month. After losing to Cincinnati on Monday, they are now trailing the Dodgers by seven big games. If the Friars aren’t careful, the Redlegs might just catch them for that second Wild Card slot in the NL. Stay tuned.
