An unexpected day off seemingly did the Los Angeles Dodgers well, as they returned to the field Monday night with a 12-1 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alex Wood finished with a season-high 11 strikeouts in five innings, and Chris Taylor’s grand slam blew the game open in the second.
Wood opened the game in emphatic fashion, striking out the first two batters faced. An Andrew McCutchen groundout ended a 1-2-3 first inning. Trevor Williams’ attempt to field an Andrew Toles swinging bunt backfired, and his high toss to first base on a similar play then allowed Corey Seager to reach on an error.
Following a Cody Bellinger one-out walk, Joc Pederson’s RBI single to right field gave the Dodgers an early lead. Taylor’s second career grand slam extended it to 5-0, and two batters later, Yasiel Puig clubbed a solo home run.
Williams got through the first inning at 41 pitches and six runs (four earned) allowed. Wood struck out two batters in both the second and third innings. He lost a perfect game on a leadoff walk of Francisco Cervelli in the third.
Back-to-back singles by Pederson and Taylor put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Yasmani Grandal’s broken-bat cue-shot took a tricky hop at first base and carried down the line for a two-run double.
Wood struck out two more in the fourth, though then lost his no-hitter on a Gregory Polanco single. Nothing came of it for the Pirates, however, as Jose Osuna grounded into a forceout. Toles and Seager combined for singles against Pirates reliever Josh Lindblom, putting runners at the corners with nobody out.
Justin Turner’s RBI single to center field extended the Dodgers’ lead to 9-0, and Pederson’s RBI double tacked on another run before Lindblom could get out of the inning.
Wood’s night came to an end at 88 pitches and with the aforementioned 11 strikeouts over five scoreless innings. He scattered two hits and issued just one walk.
Ross Stripling lost the shutout in the sixth, surrendering a leadoff single to Jordy Mercer, followed by a McCutchen double, and later an Osuna RBI base hit. Stripling limited the damage to one run and struck out three batters in the inning. He then struck out two of three batters in the seventh.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of seventh, which Lindblom nearly escaped by striking out Stripling and Toles. But a Kiké Hernandez grounder to third base hit the bag and carried into shallow left field for a two-run double.
Newly recalled Adam Liberatore followed Stripling’s three innings of relief by throwing a 1-2-3 ninth. Of note, Seager was removed at the start of the fifth inning for rest.
