Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani waits on deck during the first inning of the team’s baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Thursday, June 6, 2024.
11:54 JST, June 7, 2024
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-7 on Thursday night to avoid a three-game sweep.
Freeman hit a three-run shot in the first inning for his eighth home run of the season. Betts added a three-run shot of his own during a six-run fifth inning as Los Angeles defeated Pittsburgh for the sixth time in their last 16 meetings despite a relatively quiet night from Shohei Ohtani, who went 1 for 6 with a run scored . .
Ohtani, who homered and singled off Pirates rookie Paul Skenes on Wednesday, is batting just .225 (14 of 62) since May 29.
Hernandez finished with three hits, including a go-ahead home run in the fifth off Bailey Falter (3-3). Miguel Rojas added three hits and drove in a pair of runs as the high-powered Dodgers generated a little momentum ahead of a three-game interleague series in the Bronx this weekend against the New York Yankees.
Michael Grove (3-2) threw two scoreless innings in relief of an ineffective Walker Buehler.
Nick Gonzales had two singles, including a two-run blast off Buehler in the third, which briefly tied the score at 4. Ke’Bryan Hayes had his first three-hit game of the season for Pittsburgh. Oneil Cruz added two hits – including a towering 450-foot home run late – as did Rowdy Tellez and Jack Suwinski.
Buehler worked through three innings, his shortest outing of the season as he returned from Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of 2023. The right-hander gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits. It took him 78 pitches to get nine outs, although it would have helped if his teammates caught the ball better.
Pittsburgh took the first two games of the series behind the electric young arms of rookie pitchers Skenes and Jared Jones.
Falter wasn’t nearly as sharp. Los Angeles batted around in the first, highlighted by Freeman’s shot into the seats surrounding 20-foot Clemente Wall in right field. While Falter settled down to reach the fifth, he was pulled after giving up Hernandez’s leadoff homer in the fifth, leaving the Dodgers ahead.
The Dodgers committed three errors, including two by Betts at shortstop. The Pirates weren’t much better in the field, as a wild throw to second base by catcher Henry Davis allowed Enrique Hernández to score from third base during Los Angeles’ blowout in the fifth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Transferred LHP Ryan Borucki (wrist) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. The move allowed Pittsburgh to sign reliever Justin Bruihl, who opted out of a minor league deal with Cincinnati last week.
NEXT ONE
Dodgers: Rookie pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 3.32 ERA) heads to the Big Apple on Friday when he starts for Los Angeles against New York’s Cody Poteet (2-0, 2.45)
Pirates: Welcome AL Central-leading Minnesota to PNC Park for a weekend series that begins Friday. Mitch Keller (7-3, 3.42) starts for Pittsburgh against Joe Ryan (4-4, 3.38).
