The Los Angeles Dodgers found some life for their offense, but James Paxton struggled in his outing, leading to a 10-6 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Paxton started his night out strong with a scoreless first inning, but things fell apart in the second as the Pirates put together a seven-run inning.
It started with a walk and a single before Nick Gonzales doubled to make it a 2-0 game. A single from Yasmani Grandal scored Gonzales, and then a walk and another single loaded the bases.
Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates a five-run lead with a single, and another single from Edward Olivares put the Pirates up by six, ending Paxton’s night.
Yohan Ramírez replaced Paxton, and a wild pitch allowed the seventh run to score before the inning came to an end.
The Pirates scored their eighth run of the game in the fifth inning with Anthony Banda on the mound, working his second inning. A single and a walk put two runners on, and an error allowed them to move up a base before Gonzales hit a sacrifice fly.
They scored two more in the seventh off Ryan Yarbrough on a pair of walks and a pair of singles.
The Dodgers struggled early against Paul Skenes, but a single from Andy Pages and a two-run homer from Shohei Ohtani put them on the board. It was Ohtani’s 15th homer of the season, and good to see as he’s been struggling at the plate recently.
They scored their third run in the fifth inning with a homer from Pages, his sixth of the season, to make it a four-run game. That led to a short rally where the team ended up loading the bases, but two poor calls on Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were too much to overcome.
Jason Heyward doubled in the sixth and scored on a passed ball, and in the seventh, Freeman singled, stole second base, and scored on an RBI single from Will Smith.
Heyward roped his third double of the game in the eighth inning, and he was driven in by Gavin Lux to give the Dodgers their sixth run.
Dodgers look to salvage series against Pirates
The Dodgers look to avoid a sweep on Thursday with Walker Buehler facing off against Bailey Falter, who is in the midst of a solid season for the Pirates. Buehler has struggled to get back on track after returning from a second Tommy John surgery, but looks to continue making improvements.
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