The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by a 6-2 score at PNC Park on Thursday afternoon. The win clinched the series victory for Pittsburgh, wrapping up a 6-1 home stand. Despite the loss on Tuesday, the Bucs’ offense has been clicking, having scored a total of 21 runs across the three-game series this week.
Mitch Keller started for Pittsburgh, and after a rough first inning, settled in and held the Dodgers in check for the majority of his six innings on the mound. He earned his third victory (3-0) of the season, giving up two runs on five hits with one walk and ten strikeouts.
His mound opponent, Julio Urias, fell victim to the hot Pittsburgh bats. He suffered the loss, his third of the season, tagged for six runs on seven hits and two walks in 5.2 innings of work.
The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs in the first inning. David Peralta’s two-out single scored Mookie Betts and Jason Heyward, putting the Bucs in a two-run hole before their first at-bat.
The Pirates immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own to take the lead. Bryan Reynolds’ single scored Tucupita Marcano, who led off the inning with a bunt single. Later in the inning, Rodolfo Castro’s sacrifice fly to left field scored Reynolds to tie the game. A single by Jack Suwinski followed, scoring Andrew McCutchen to make it 3-2 in favor of the Buccos.
Los Angeles looked to take the lead back in the third inning. Back to back singles by Freddie Freeman and Heyward put runners at the corners with one out. But Keller was able to strike out James Outman and force a Peralta groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
Pittsburgh opened the game up a bit in the sixth inning with three runs by way of two homeruns. Connor Joe’s two-run homerun, his third of the season, scored McCutchen to make it 5-2. Not to be outdone, though, was Castro, who followed with a solo homerun of his own, his third of the season for the game’s final run.
The Pirates’ bullpen shut down the Dodger’s offense in the latter innings as they coasted to a comfortable victory to clinch the series victory.
This was yet another impressive win for this Pittsburgh team. Especially after losing the first game of this series against what everyone agreed is a high-quality opponent, the Pirates were very impressive in responding for back-to-back wins.
Fresh off a highly successful home stand, the Bucs will hit the road for a three game series against the Washington Nationals, beginning Friday evening.
Record vs. Dodgers: 2-1
Record vs. N.L. West: 5-1
Record at Home: 9-4
Overall Record: 18-8
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
