Las Vegas Review-Journal

Pirates’ Liriano beats Dodgers with his best start of year

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PITTSBURGH — Showing flashes of the form that helped him win 16 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013, Francisco Liriano handcuffed the Los Angeles Dodgers for seven innings in a 6-1 victory Wednesday night.

Liriano (2-7) overcame his typical early-game jitters to allow one run on four hits and get his first regular-season win at PNC Park in 11 months.

Making his third start since returning from a strained left oblique, Liriano struck out four against two walks and was never in danger of giving away an early 5-0 lead.

“I’m not at the point I want to be yet, but everything is getting better and everything is moving forward,” he said.

Josh Harrison had two hits with two RBIs for the Pirates, including a two-run double that capped a four-run outburst in the first against Dan Haren (8-8).

Pittsburgh has won five of six since the All-Star break to move to a season-high seven games over .500 (54-47).

“When we get on base, we know we

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can make things happen,” Harrison said.

Travis Snider added two hits, including his fifth homer, for the Pirates. Pittsburgh batted around in the first against Haren, who has lost four straight starts.

“The first pitch of the game was a strike and then they swing at the next three pitches, and I stepped back after that and said to myself that I needed to make better pitches,” Haren said. “But then I nibbled around guys and couldn’t throw a strike. I just couldn’t do anything right.”

The right-hander settled down to get through five innings. But Los Angeles didn’t collect a hit until Miguel Rojas doubled with one out in the fifth and never threatened as Liriano put together his best start of the year.

Liriano has struggled with his command all season. It looked like more of the same in the first after consecutiv­e one-out walks to Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez. Liriano escaped after striking out Scott Van Slyke and getting Juan Uribe to fly out to right.

Haren wasn’t so fortunate in the bottom of the first. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases before Haren walked Russell Martin on a full count to hand the Pirates the lead. Ike Davis followed with a sacrifice fly before Harrison’s double to left pushed the advantage to 4-0.

Snider made it 5-0 when he hit the fifth pitch of the second inning into the last row of seats in right field. It was Snider’s first home run over the 21-foot fence on the Roberto Clemente Wall since the Pirates acquired him in 2012.

“For 2½ years that thing has been staring at me,” Snider said. “I hit one off the top of the wall once, I thought it was a homer. It felt pretty good.”

Haren retired the last 10 batters he faced but fell to 0-4 with a 9.47 ERA in July.

Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly credited Haren for a strong finish but didn’t rule out having the three-time AllStar skip a start or two with some off days on the horizon.

“He’s kept us in a lot of games this year,” Mattingly said. “He’s gotten us in a bit of a hole in the last couple of games, but now is not the right time to talk about his future.”

 ?? THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Pirates starter Francisco Liriano delivers a first-inning pitch during Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Liriano struck out four and walked two.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pirates starter Francisco Liriano delivers a first-inning pitch during Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Liriano struck out four and walked two.

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