PITTSBURGH — On one side of the Allegheny River this week, they are holding an arts festival.
On the north shore at PNC Park, there was no work of art Thursday night.
The Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates made four errors – on the scorecard – and enough unmade plays to make it necessary for any responsible parent to cover the eyes of any Little Leaguers on hand. Hung out to dry by the defenses, the pitching was less than picturesque as well.
But the Dodgers came away with an 11-7 victory, taking the final game of the three-game series and averting a sweep at the hands of the Pirates.
Freed from the oppressive heat slung by hard-throwing rookies Jared Jones and Paul Skenes in the first two games, the Dodgers broke out for 14 hits including three home runs and four doubles. They got three-run home runs from Freddie Freeman during a four-run first inning and Mookie Betts during a six-run fifth.
That home run by Betts had to be the most welcome sight of all Thursday.
After an MVP start to the season, Betts had slipped into a deep slump with just one home run in 66 at-bats before his homer against the Pirates and only one hit of any kind in 24 at-bats before Thursday’s game.
He broke that stretch with a leadoff single in the first inning and had his first multi-hit game since the Dodgers’ doubleheader at Citi Field on May 28.
Shohei Ohtani followed Betts’ first-inning single with a sinking line drive to right field where Edward Olivares made a sliding attempt that was originally ruled a catch – but slowly enough that Betts was hung up, confused, between first and second base. After a replay review, it was evident Olivares hadn’t made the catch and Betts was awarded second on a single by Ohtani. On the next pitch from Pirates starter Bailey Falter, Freeman drove his three-run homer into the right field seats.
The Dodgers added another run in the inning and sent their starter, Walker Buehler, to the mound with a 4-0 lead. The lead and Buehler were gone by the fourth inning.
Errors by Betts and Kiké Hernandez led to one run in the second inning and more sloppy defense didn’t help Buehler during a three-run third inning.
The big blow was Buehler’s fault, though. Since returning from his second Tommy John surgery, Buehler has been frustrated by an infrequent ability to finish off hitters even when he has the count in his favor.
He got to 1-and-2 on Nick Gonzales with two outs and two on but Gonzales fouled off four pitches. The eighth pitch of the at-bat was a fastball up and over the plate. Gonzales hammered it into the seats down the left field line for a game-tying three-run home run.
It took four more batters for Buehler to get out of the 41-pitch inning thanks to a muffed catch by Miguel Vargas in left field that went for a double.
Buehler’s night was done after that, his ERA now 4.82 after six post-surgery starts.
But the Dodgers’ offense was not done. Teoscar Hernandez got the lead back with a home run leading off the fifth inning and the Dodgers scored five more times in the inning, capped by Betts’ homer.
Two more plays that should have been made – by Vargas in left and Betts up the middle – led to a three-run home run by Oneil Cruz in the eighth, a 462-foot bomb that bounced into the river, before the ugliness ended.
More to come on this story.