Dodgers overcome Paul Skenes, batter Pirates bullpen in rout

PITTSBURGH –– For most teams, spotting Paul Skenes an early two-run lead would be a death sentence.

For the red-hot Dodgers, it was just a temporary challenge en route to another blowout win.

In a 12-3 defeat of the Pirates on Tuesday night, the Dodgers erased their early deficit by tagging Skenes with two runs in his six-inning start, then unloaded on the Pittsburgh bullpen in a 10-run seventh-inning onslaught.

The 10 runs marked the most the Dodgers had scored in one inning since June 2021.

The rally also featured a milestone moment for first baseman Freddie Freeman, who collected his 2,500th career hit in his second time up in the frame with an RBI single.

“That’s a special inning,” said Freeman, who had also doubled and scored in the top of the sixth.

The Dodgers’ turnaround had been well underway before then, beginning with another solid effort from journeyman Eric Lauer in his third start with the team.

After giving up back-to-back home runs in the first, Lauer retired 15 of the final 16 batters he faced in a 5 ⅔-inning, two-run performance, giving him a 2.76 ERA since joining the club in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays last month.

“He was doing what he does,” Roberts said. “He gets ahead, he mixes speeds, doesn’t walk guys, and I thought he did a great job. He left a couple pitches up early for the homers, but outside of that, unscathed and got into a good rhythm.”

Lauer’s performance also gave the Dodgers time to figure out Skenes, with the club getting one run in the second (on a Kyle Tucker sacrifice fly) and another in the sixth (on a Max Muncy RBI single) to level the score.

“He’s as tough as they come, and the first couple innings, I thought it was gonna be tough,” Roberts said. “But we scratched one across early to answer back from that two-run inning they had … And then we tacked on another one. So that was big. So to get him out of the game after the sixth inning was a big feat.”

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Indeed, with Skenes at 103 pitches by the end of the sixth, Pittsburgh turned to the bullpen to begin the seventh. 

What followed was an unmitigated disaster. 

Fifteen Dodgers batters came to the plate. The first nine of them all reached safely and scored. The team racked up seven hits (including a two-run homer from Andy Pages and RBI double from Shohei Ohtani), four walks (including two with the bases loaded) and a run-scoring error. By the time it was done, three Pirates relievers had combined for 68 total pitches.

As for the hole the Dodgers had faced at the start of the night? Long buried, and completely forgotten.

What it means

The Dodgers (43-24) keep on rolling, improving to 19-6 in their last 25 games.

Tuesday marked the fifth time in that stretch they’ve scored double-digit runs, and already the 11th instance overall this year. Only one other team has more than seven such games this year: the Washington Nationals, with nine.

“I think it just shows what we can do,” said Mookie Betts, who had two hits including a second-inning double that led to the Dodgers’ first run. “I mean, obviously we would love to do that all the time. But it just shows that we’re capable of it [when] we’re just grinding.”

Who’s hot

The Dodgers did not hit Skenes well during his Cy Young campaign last year, held scoreless in two starts and 12 innings against him.

On Tuesday, however, Muncy helped them flip the script. 

Muncy went 3-for-3 against Skenes in the win and directly contributed to the two runs the Dodgers scored against him, setting up Tucker’s sacrifice fly with a second-inning single before tying the game with a high hopper in the sixth that got past second baseman Brandon Lowe.

Muncy also had a double in the fourth, then walked after Skenes exited in the seventh, helping raise his batting average to .269 and OPS to .875. He is in the driver’s seat to be the National League’s starting third baseman in the All-Star Game.

Who’s not

Will Smith missed a third-straight game with neck stiffness, and is becoming “more of a possibility” to land on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said before the game.

Smith has not played since last Friday with a neck issue that Roberts said came “out of nowhere.”

Up next

Shohei Ohtani (6-2, 0.74 ERA) will play both ways again on Wednesday, as the Dodgers face Pittsburgh right-hander Jared Jones (1-0, 4.82 ERA).