PITTSBURGH — If the Dodgers stay in town long enough, they might be able to revive interest in Pirates baseball.
Word of mouth might take awhile, though, with only around 14,000 and 16,000 finding their way inside PNC Park the past two nights (many of them increasingly disgruntled Dodger fans). But they went home with tales of a Pirates victory each night. Wednesday, it was a 3-0 shutout victory over the Dodgers.
The Dodgers are now 4-11 in their past 15 games against teams with losing records like the NL Central last-place Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who took two of three from the Dodgers in L.A. over the weekend.
By losing four of their past five games, the Dodgers have wasted an opportunity to pull away from the San Diego Padres in the NL West. The Padres have lost four consecutive games (including a three-game sweep at Petco Park by another last-place team, the Baltimore Orioles), six of their past seven and eight of their past 10, turning the NL West race into a two-team moonwalk.
The Dodgers’ own stumbles have left their division lead at 2½ games. Wednesday’s loss could be particularly painful. Catcher Will Smith took a foul tip off his right hand in the second inning and came out of the game. The initial diagnosis was a contusion.
The Dodgers had to be steadfast in their resolve not to score Wednesday.
They loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning after a leadoff single by Freddie Freeman and back-to-back walks by Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft. But Andy Pages chased a pitch out of the strike zone to strike out. Alex Freeland took one in the strike zone to do the same and Kiké Hernandez flew out to right.
They loaded the bases again in the third inning, this time with two outs, after a single by Dalton Rushing (in for Smith) and another set of back-to-back walks by Ashcraft. Alex Call dribbled a ball in front of home plate and was thrown out by the catcher to end the inning.
That was enough for Ashcraft, who threw 71 pitches in three innings. Reliever Mike Burrows picked up where he left off.
Shohei Ohtani led off the fifth with a double and Mookie Betts followed with a walk. Rushing flew out this time and Freeman hit into a double play.
Ohtani beat out an infield single (his fifth hit in two games) in the seventh inning and Rushing drew a walk to put two runners on with two outs. Freeman flew out to right.
Ohtani’s single was the Dodgers’ last hit of the game. They finished the night 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners on base, seven in the first five innings.
The Pirates got all the offense they would need when Bryan Reynolds finished a 12-pitch at-bat by lining a home run into the right field seats in the first inning. Andrew McCutchen added another solo home run off Emmet Sheehan in the second inning. The Pirates added an insurance run off Ben Casparius in the sixth.
More to come on this story.
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