PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers were involved in a high-speed chase, but it was one car wreck of an inning that did them in.
The Dodgers got to hard-throwing rookie phenom Paul Skenes for three runs in his five innings. But Dodgers starter James Paxton gave up seven in the second inning and the Dodgers never recovered, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-6, on Wednesday night.
The Pirates have now won 10 of their past 15 games against the Dodgers (six of the past eight at PNC Park) and are the only National League team with a .500 or better record against them since 2022.
Paxton retired the side in order in the first. But he faced 10 batters in the second inning and retired just two – one on a sacrifice bunt – before he was pulled from the game.
The first five Pirates reached base that inning on a walk, three singles and a broken-bat two-run double. Another walk and two more hits followed before Paxton’s night was done early.
The Dodgers spent the rest of the night trying to make up for that inning.
Difficulties hitting fastballs have been an underlying factor in the Dodgers’ offensive downturn over the past few weeks. This trip to Pittsburgh hasn’t helped.
On Tuesday, they faced rookie right-hander Jared Jones, a La Mirada High product whose 97.3 mph fastball average is the 15th-highest in MLB. He shut the Dodgers out on three hits over six innings of a 1-0 Pirates win.
On Wednesday, they faced Skenes, a former El Toro High standout whose fastball had averaged 99.3 mph over his first four big-league starts, the third-fastest in MLB.
They fared better against Skenes though the final result was the same.
Shohei Ohtani was carved up by Skenes in his first at-bat against the rookie – he struck out on three fastballs, all 100 mph or faster. In his second at-bat, however, Ohtani turned around a 100.1 mph fastball and sent it rocketing 105.6 mph the other direction. His 415-foot drive bounced off the batter’s eye in straight away center field for a two-run home run.
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Andy Pages took a different route, hitting a solo home run off Skenes’ slider in the fifth inning.
Thanks to an error and singles by Ohtani (107.6 mph off the bat) and Will Smith, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in that fifth inning. But Teoscar Hernandez bounced into a force out, ending the threat and Skenes’ night.
The Dodgers chipped away with single runs against the Pirates’ bullpen in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Jason Heyward doubled and scored two of those runs (part of a three-double night for him). And the Dodgers had two runners on when Ohtani flew out to the wall to end the eighth.
But Ryan Yarbrough walked the first two Pirates batters in the top of the seventh and both came around to score.
The 10 runs were the most the Pirates scored against the Dodgers since an 11-7 Dodger loss at PNC Park in May 2018.
More to come on this story.
