PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Tommy Edman lines a walk-off single and the Dodgers beat the Pirates 5-4 in 10 innings Friday night in Los Angeles.
In the top of the 10th Dave Roberts elected to intentionally walk Oneil Cruz to load the bases with one out in a tied game. It worked out because Henry Davis was the next batter and he grouned into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
"We have to be able to find a way to score runs. First and third nobody out and then they walk Cruz to make it bases loaded, Henry hit that ball decent right at Betts, but we have to find a way to score," said Kelly.
When he was asked about pulling Rafael Flores Jr. for Davis earlier in the game in a pinch runner situation, Kelly had this to say,
"Anytime you make a move like that and with one out in the 8th inning and having Henry in there with Mangum and Gonzalez coming up, Henry can go first to third or if Jacob Gonzalez, 'he hit the crap out of that one that the center fielder caught,' if it's in the gap Henry can score. I dont know if Flores can, so that's a tough decision but Henry's a lot faster."
The Pirates were down 4-2 in the top of the 8th inning until Oneil Cruz blasted a game tying two-run home run off Kyle Hurt to tie the game 4-4.
"Tough ending. To fight back, the home run by Cruz was huge. I thought the bullpen did a great job holding them there and Bubba too. I know that he went four innings and giving up the runs but he threw the ball well I thought and competed," said Don Kelly.
Yamamoto dazzles
The Pirates didn't get a hit off Yamamoto since the third inning, until Jake Mangum lined a double to right field to begin the top of the seventh. Jacob Gonzalez was retired on an infield pop up for the first out. Yamamoto had Triolo with a 2-2 count but lost him with a hit by pitch. Dave Roberts yanked him after the hit batter.
Brock Stewart entered the game for LA with two on and one out and the top of the order for the Pirates. Spencer Horwitz popped up to third and Lowe struck out looking to end the inning. Yamamoto finished pitching 6.1 innings, allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, 9 strikeouts and 1 walk. Nick Gonzales had both RBI's off Yamamoto and Lowe scored on both of them.
Chandler struggles to go deep in the game
The Dodgers responded with two in the bottom of the first. Shohei Ohtani reached on a four-pitch walk. A few batters later, Max Muncy blasted a high fastball to right field for a two-run shot. That was the first home run Chandler allowed since July 5th.
Bubba Chandler got Freddie Freeman to line out to center field and Fedducia did not test the arm of Oneil Cruz. He hit Andy Pages with a pitch to load the bases with one out. He struck out Muncy for the second out of the inning. It looked like he might have been able to get out of the jam but Mookie Betts singled up the middle and drove in two to make it 4-2 LA.
Chandler was yanked after the 4th inning. He threw 88 pitches, allowed 4 runs on 4 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 6.
"His pitch count got elevated. Third inning took a lot of pitches to get through and then going into the 5th inning with the heart of their order again, it just felt like the best chance for us was to go to Yohan," said Kelly.
Up Next
The Bucs face Tarik Skubal Saturday at 7:15 for game 2 of the series. Pittsburgh will start Jared Jones.
