Dodgers stretch ’pen to limit, edge Pirates
Pederson’s two homers back nine relievers
PITTSBURGH — The Los Angeles Dodgers keep losing pitchers and winning games. The latest trick by their workaholic bullpen might have been their most impressive.
Spot starter Dennis Santana was scratched minutes before the first pitch Thursday against Pittsburgh. It hardly mattered. Nine relievers did just enough to hold off the Pirates in an 8-7 victory.
Barely 12 hours removed from a loss that forced manager Dave Roberts to use eight pitchers, the bullpen door in center field opened early and often for the Dodgers. It didn’t stop Los Angeles from winning for the 15th time in its past 20 games to move back to .500 (31-31).
“It’s one of those things where you just have to kind of ask guys to do more than they’ve been asked to do,” Roberts said.
Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless first in his first start since 2015 after the 22-year-old Santana complained of right lat tightness in warmups.
Pedro Baez (3-3) picked up the win by getting six outs — the most by any of the pitchers Roberts summoned from the bullpen. Kenley Jansen worked around a pinch-hit homer by Francisco Cervelli in the ninth to collect his 15th save in 17 tries.
Having Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger in the lineup helped take some of the pressure off.
Pederson homered twice, and Bellinger hit his third home run in as many games. Pederson led off with a blast off Jameson Taillon
(3-5) and added a two-run shot in the eighth off Michael Feliz for his second multi-home run game in a week.
“Their lineup is deep,” Taillon said. “I thought I made a lot of good pitches, and they were really zoned in.”
Bellinger finished 3-for-4, including a shot just over the wall in the sixth to give the Dodgers a three-run advantage, and Pederson’s two-run home run in the eighth gave Los Angeles just enough cushion.
Taillon allowed three runs in five innings. Elias Diaz hit his fourth home run and drove in four for the Pirates, and Cervelli’s homer pushed his total to a career-high nine.