Pirates Bats Lead in Victory Over Dodgers

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates needed a good showing from their offense against the Los Angeles Dodgers and they got that, earning a 9-7 victory in the series opener at PNC Park.

The win makes it nine wins in the past 14 games for the Pirates, who won two of three games vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, Aug. 18-20, and swept the Colorado Rockies, Aug. 22-24, both at PNC park, won two out of four games vs. the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Aug. 25-28, then won two of three games vs. the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Aug. 29-31.

The Pirates also tie up the season series with the Dodgers at 2-2, as they won the series opener at Dodgers Stadium 3-0 on April 25, but lost the following two games, 8-4 on April 26 and 9-2 on April 27.

Pittsburgh improves to 62-77 overall and 40-30 at home, while Los Angeles drops to 78-60 overall and 33-34 on the road.

The Pirates got going early on, as shortstop Jared Triolo hit a ground-rule double and then Dodgers left-handed starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw walked both second baseman Nick Gonzales and right fielder Bryan Reynolds, loading the bases.

Left fielder Tommy Pham then hit a blooper in the next at-bat, that fall down before Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández could get it. Pham made it into second base for a double, moving Reynolds to third base and scoring both Triolo and Gonzales, putting the Pirates up 2-0.

Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen then hit a sharp single at Kershaw, hitting off his glove for a single, scoring Reynolds to make it a 3-0 Pirates lead.

Center fielder Alexander Canario hit a fly ball out to Hernández, scoring Pham and extending the Pirates' advantage to 4-0.

First baseman Nick Yorke hit a single in his first MLB at-bat in 2025 afterwards, putting two runners on, but catcher Henry Davis hit into a double play, ending any further Pirates' scoring.

Pirates right-handed starting pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski threw a scoreless first inning, but quickly struggled in the top of the second inning. He loaded the bases with no outs, giving up back-to-back singles to Dodgers catcher Will Smith and Hernández, then walking left fielder Michael Conforto.

Mlodzinski forced center fielder Andy Pages into a double play, scoring Smith, then struck out third baseman Alex Freeland, keeping the Pirates ahead 4-1 over the Dodgers.

Rookie right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler came in for Mlodzinski in the top of the third inning, ending his outing after just two innings.

Chandler got second baseman Miguel Rojas to ground out, but then gave up a solo home run to designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who hit a 99.2 mph fastball and sent it 120 mph into the right field seats for the hardest hit home run of his career, trimming the Dodgers' deficit to 4-2.

He then gave up a single to Betts, got first baseman Freddie Freeman to hit into a grounder with Betts out at second base, then back-to-back singles to Smith and Hernández, scoring Freeman, before striking out Conforto to end the top half of the inning, with the Dodgers trimming the deficit to 4-3.

Chandler allowed a leadoff home run to Pages in the top of the fourth inning, as the Dodgers tied the game up 4-4.

He settled down after the home run, giving up only one hit, and finishing his outing after 65 pitches over four innings. He gave up six hits, three earned runs, two home runs and posted three strikeouts in his third MLB appearance.