Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Ugh. I don’t know about you, but I’m just about done with Craig Kimbrel. After staging a great comeback to take the lead in the bottom of the 8th, Kimbrel just couldn’t get the job done in the ninth. He gave up a run on his own, and then the go-ahead run scored on a Freddie Freeman error. The Pirates held on to win 6-5, to start off the homestand with a hard loss.
Buehler gives up dingers to put team in early hole
Once again, Walker Buehler just didn’t look right in the early going on Monday. He had an easy and scoreless first, but trouble started in the second inning. The trouble began when he walked the leadoff man (kids, don’t walk the leadoff man). Then, outfielder Jack Suwinski hit a weak liner that dropped in front of Mookie Betts for a single. Buehler then restored a little order with a K for the first out. But, in the play that hurt Buehler the most in the game, he gave up a three-run home run to fresh rookie Tucapita Marcano. It was Mercano’s first ever major league, homer, and it put the Bucs up 3-0.
When the inning was finally over, Buehler took out his frustration on the bat rack in the Dodgers dugout, whipping his glove into the bats before storming off into the clubhouse. Unfortunately, this bit of primal scream therapy didn’t do much for his pitching on Monday, as he gave up a second home run in the very next inning, a solo shot that was crushed by centerfielder Bryan Reynolds. Buehler’s old Vandy teammate didn’t show much mercy on his fellow Commodore, drilling a four-seamer deep into the spectators in right center field. It was now 4-0 Pirates, and the Dodgers had to play from behind for the rest of the night.
Three solo shots to cut the lead
Meanwhile, Pirates starter Zach Thompson was having his way with the Dodgers’ hitters. He gave up a leadoff single to hot-hitting Mookie Betts, but that was about it. He had very good command in the early innings, getting 3 strikeouts over the first four innings.
However, there was a bit of a leak in the dam in the fifth inning. After Kevin Pillar absolutely smoked a line drive that ended up being an infield out, Hanser Alberto provided the first hit worth cheering about on the night. He ripped an 0-1 pitch to left that juuuust cleared the fence for a solo home run. And since that looked like fun, Mookie Betts did the exact same thing three pitches later. Mookie’s torrid May just doesn’t show any signs of letting up.
Thompson was lifted with two outs in the 6th inning. Lefty Dillon Peters was brought in to face the left-handed Edwin Rios. It turned out to be a poor decision, at least in the short term. Rios banged the very first pitch he saw from Peters to the opposite field for a third Dodgers’ solo home run. Rios now has 7 homers in limited duty with the team this season.
JT, CT3 come through in the 8th
After both teams posted zeroes in the seventh, the Dodgers’ eighth inning was the key in this one. Trea Turner got ahead of Pirates’ reliever David Bednar 3-0 before he drilled a 3-1 pitch into the left field corner for a leadoff double. Left fielder Tucapita Marcano almost made a brilliant throw to second to cut down the speedy Turner, but the ball popped out of the glove at second, and Turner was safe.
Will Smith followed it up with a gritty at-bat where he battled for a productive out when he flew out to right, allowing Turner to tag up and move to third. Now with the tying run 90 feet from home, the Dodgers sent up Edwin Rios to the plate. Rios battled Bednar as well, but lost the fight when he struck out on a breaking ball.
Now with two out, it was up to Justin Turner. And Turner has always had a nose for the clutch moment. He got down quickly 0-2, but then he drilled a double into the left center field gap to score Trea easily and tie up the game. Then they got a gift of bloop single from Chris Taylor to put the Dodgers up 5-4 going into the ninth inning.
Kimbrel blows it in 9th
Did we mention earlier that it wasn’t a good idea to walk guys? Well, that is exactly what the Dodgers’ “closer” Craig Kimbrel did in the top of the ninth, throwing a breaking pitch on a 3-2 count to Diego Castillo for a one-out walk in the ninth. Castillo took second on a wild pitch, and then scored on a single to right by Michael Perez. Then, the usually sure-handed Freddy Freeman let a ground ball to his right bounce off his glove into shallow right, and pinch runner Michael Chavis was able to beat the throw to the plate. The Dodgers were up 6-5. Kimbrel had let in more ninth inning runs, and the Dodgers were in a hole once again.
Rally stalls in the 9th
It looked like there might be yet another comeback when Mookie Betts hit a one-out double that was followed up by a walk from Freddie Freeman. However, the rally fizzled after that. Trea Turner flew out and Will Smith struck out after a tough at-bat for the final out of the game.
Cans of Corn…
- This was the first time the Pirates have beaten the Dodgers at home since 2016. Ugh.
- Feel like Buehler could benefit from skipping a start. He’s just not overpowering anybody at this point.
- Mookie’s homer was his 12th in May, tying a Dodger franchise record.
- In addition, Mookie hit a single and double in this one, falling a triple short of the cycle for the second time this week.
- Fun to see Hanser go yard and watch the reaction of the Dodger dugout.
- Trea’s hitting streak is now 22 games.
- Dodgers showed a lot of grit in this one, but just came up a little short.
