Dodgers rout Pirates
PIRATES, FROM E-1 each ball and strike, each batter and baserunner.
The ink necessary to log the first inning of the Pirates’ 12-1 defeat might have bled the pen dry. Spurred by a six-run opening frame and a splendid start from left-hander Alex Wood, the Los Angeles Dodgers captured the first game of the series in runaway fashion.
Williams lasted only three innings, allowing eight runs, six earned. He was already on a pitch cap, since he’d spent the past month as a long reliever, and a 40-pitch first inning sapped his reserve. He allowed eight hits, including two home runs, and walked one on 75 pitches. The problems — the primary ones, anyway — were extended counts and missed slider locations.
Wood, the Dodgers’ starter, had his way with the Pirates, striking out 11 over five scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, both singles, and issued one walk.
The Dodgers (18-14) began the boat race inauspiciously enough, fueled by a pair of 40-foot dribblers along the first-base line. The first was ruled a base hit, though Williams might have had a shot at it, and the second Williams fielded fine. His underhanded toss, however, was high and wide.
With one away, Cody Bellinger walked, and the Dodgers cranked the knob on their weak contact. Joc Pederson ripped a run-scoring single to right field. After two sliders for strikes, Chris Taylor guessed Williams would try another. He was correct. Taylor tattooed the two-strike slider over the fence in left-center field for the Dodgers’ second grand slam in as many games.
A brief history lesson: Before Monday, the most recent time the Dodgers had hit grand slams in back-toback games was Sept. 7-8, 2004. The sultans of slam were Robin Ventura and Olmedo Saenz.
Before the 40-pitch first inning was through, the enigmatic Yasiel Puig blasted a slider halfway up the bleachers in left field. Williams puttered around the mound and shook his head. He found his way out of the first and threw a 1-2-3 second before the Dodgers added two runs in the third, scoring when Yasmani Grandal’s double stayed fair and bounced free down the right-field line.
The Dodgers had seven runs and eight hits before the Pirates (14-18) had any of either. Wood struck out eight of the first 12 batters he faced before Gregory Polanco chopped a base hit up the middle with two outs in the fourth inning to disrupt the no-hit bid Wood had been building.
The Pirates managed to put a run on the board once Wood departed. In the seventh, Jordy Mercer singled, Andrew McCutchen doubled and Jose Osuna struck an RBI single.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, continued their carousel ride around the bases. Right-hander Josh Linblom, tasked with eating the innings Williams could not, was charged with four in four innings.
Los Angeles reached a dozen runs in the seventh when Kike Hernandez hit a bases-loaded grounder to third base. It bounced off the bag and hopped over Gift Ngoepe’s head for a two-run double.
At that point, the stadium’s patrons and the Pirates seemed ready to call it a night.