LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pinch-hitter Josh Palacios came through with a tiebreaking two-run double in a three-run ninth inning that rallied the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-7 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night to snap a three-game skid.
“July Fourth baseball is always lit, and to have a comeback like that with the boys and be able to finish it off is a blessing,” Palacios said. “It just shows the boys if you keep working hard, you keep trusting in your processes, you keep grinding and keep staying resilient, good things happen.”
Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips struck out Carlos Santana, then issued consecutive walks to Jack Suwinski and Nick Gonzales. Suwinski scored on Jared Triolo’s single off Phillips that tied it at 7.
“If a player says he feels good, then you've got to trust him and quite honestly we didn’t have anyone else,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was the right spot for him, he was ready to go and it didn’t work out.”
Triolo had struck out three times in his first four at-bats.
“You’ll never know if he’s having an 0-for-5 or a 5-for-5 day,” Gonzales said. “When he comes up for that sixth at-bat, he’ll be ready.”
Palacios batted for Rodolfo Castro and doubled into left field, scoring Gonzales and Triolo for a 9-7 lead.
The Pirates bounced back after pinch-hitter Jonny Deluca's solo homer in the eighth gave the Dodgers a 7-6 lead.
David Bednar (3-0) got five outs for the win after being added to the NL All-Star roster earlier in the day as an injury replacement.
The Pirates rallied three times to tie the game.
“That was one of our most intense,” Suwinski said. “A lot of fight in there, good comeback win for the guys. Just shows that we can do it — we can play in these type of environments.”
James Outman slugged a pair of two-run homers, both times giving Los Angeles the lead, and Mookie Betts added his 23rd homer for the Dodgers. Jason Heyward went 2 for 3 and scored twice.
Deluca batted for Heyward and went deep to left field off Angel Perdomo for his first major league homer. The 24-year-old outfielder from Thousand Oaks in Ventura County took a curtain call in front of 51,487 cheering fans.
The Pirates tied the game at 6 in the sixth. Henry Davis singled to left off Gavin Stone, and David Peralta's throw kicked off the glove of catcher Will Smith as Austin Hedges made a headfirst slide home. The throw put runners at second and third before Stone walked Santana to load the bases.
Suwinski took a called third strike. Gonzales grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop and Santana was out at second to end the inning.
Suwinski went deep for the Pirates leading off the fourth — his 442-shot was the longest of the game — and Hedges' bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it at 4. Bryan Reynolds' RBI single off Caleb Ferguson put the Pirates ahead 5-4.
The Dodgers rallied to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the inning on Outman's 407-foot shot that scored Heyward, who singled leading off against starter Luis Ortiz.
Outman's first homer in the second traveled 436 feet to right-center and scored Heyman, who singled. Two batters later, Betts homered for a 4-1 lead.
Will Smith's sacrifice fly in the first scored Betts and left the Dodgers trailing 2-1.
Dodgers rookie Emmet Sheehan had a shaky 37-pitch first. After he loaded the bases on three consecutive two-out walks, Gonzales hit a ground-rule double to left, scoring Davis and Santana for a 2-0 lead.
OUT FOR THE SEASON
RHP Dustin May will undergo season-ending elbow surgery on July 18, the latest blow to a Dodgers rotation that has been hit hard by injuries.
The 25-year-old right-hander will have his right flexor tendon repaired. May had been rehabbing a flexor pronator strain after having a platelet-rich plasma injection and going on the 60-day injured list May 23.
May was 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 34 strikeouts in nine starts this season. He had Tommy John surgery in 2021.
“It sucks,” Roberts said. “The work that he put in after the TJ and to get back and to kind of go through this again, it’s disappointing for all of us. Our hope is that he gets back with us sometime next year, but I just don’t know when.”
ALL-STAR NOD
Bednar is headed to the All-Star Game as the replacement for injured Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
It will be the second straight All-Star appearance for Bednar, who has a 1.36 ERA and 16 saves. He'll join teammate Mitch Keller at the game in Seattle, where Pirates manager Derek Shelton will be part of the NL coaching staff.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: Kershaw (left shoulder) will throw a bullpen on Friday or Saturday. ... RHP Noah Syndergaard (finger) will throw a three-inning simulated game on Thursday. A rehab assignment is in his future. “The stuff has got to improve,” Roberts said. ... INF-OF Chris Taylor (knee) is in Arizona. ... RHP Shelby Miller (neck) is not close to returning after being shut down two weeks ago.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 4.74 ERA) makes his fifth career start Wednesday. He's received zero runs of support when he's been in the game in his last three starts.
Dodgers: RHP Bobby Miller (4-1, 4.23) faces the Pirates for the first time.
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