The Los Angeles Dodgers picked themselves off the mat after a disheartening loss to close out their road trip and series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a win. Los Angeles went 5-2 on the trip and became the first team to reach 90 wins this season.
While the Dodgers had at least two batters reach on Chad Kuhl through each of the three innings, they only managed to take a 1-0 lead — on Chris Taylor’s RBI single in second. The Pirates mounted a two-out rally on Hyun-Jin Ryu to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Curtis Granderson crushed a solo home run that cleared the stands in right field at PNC Park, bounced on the walkway and carried into the Allegheny River. Thursday’s game was Granderson’s sixth with the Dodgers.
Batting second, it was the fifth time he started in a different spot in the lineup since being acquired from the New York Mets. The home run was Granderson’s ninth during the month of August and third with the Dodgers.
With the Dodgers holding a 3-1 lead, Yasmani Grandal and Adrian Gonzalez provided some breathing room in the eighth inning by combining for back-to-back solo home runs. Grandal now has 18 homers this season, which has him within earshot of matching or surpassing a career high of 27, set last season.
The homer was Gonzalez’s first since returning from the 60-day disabled list last weekend. It was also his 100th with the Dodgers, which is tied with Steve Yeager for 25th in franchise history.
