Related Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gavin Lux continued his comeback with three RBIs, Teoscar Hernandez hit a home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated standout rookie pitcher Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Saturday night.
Hernandez scored three hits for the Dodgers, who won for the fifth time in their last seven games, with their only two losses in that stretch coming to the National League’s best, the Philadelphia Phillies.
Skenes, who started the All-Star Game for the National League, allowed eight home runs before Saturday and none of them came with his “splinker,” a hybrid of a splitter and a sinker, until Hernandez hit a home run in the fifth inning.
“I’m not going to stop throwing the ball,” Skenes said after the performance. “He won the Home Run Derby this year, right? He won it for a reason, so you have to take your hat off to him. I’m going to keep attacking guys with that pitch.”
Skenes (6-2) allowed four runs on six hits in six innings, one walk and eight strikeouts, a career-best performance.
The hard-throwing right-hander has allowed more than two runs in just three of his 15 starts, two of them against the Dodgers. He won against Los Angeles on June 5, when he allowed three runs in five innings.
“If you look at it as objectively as possible, the line obviously wasn’t fantastic, but there was a lot of good stuff, I thought,” Skenes said. “To be honest, a lot of the pitches that I didn’t execute as well as I could have or should have ended up with outs, and that’s the way it goes. I’m not going to lose sleep over their hits or the home run. They’re good hitters.”
The Dodgers won despite losing rookie right-hander River Ryan after 4 2/3 scoreless innings due to tightness in his right forearm. Ryan had to leave the field during an at-bat against Michael A. Taylor in the fifth inning when he winced and held his right arm close to his side on a pitch.
“I definitely didn’t want to finish the game, I wanted to finish it,” said Ryan, who has to undergo further tests with team doctors on Sunday morning. “But they saw me grimacing on the mound and they don’t want to take any chances, so they decided to finish it there.”
Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a home run in the ninth inning for the Pirates, who matched a season-record sixth consecutive loss. It was Hayes’ fourth home run of the season.
Lux had an RBI double to left-center field against Skenes in the first inning and a two-run single against him in the third. After a slow start this season, Lux has now had hits in 15 of the 20 games since the All-Star break.
In his first meeting with Skenes in June, Lux missed in his first two at-bats.
“I think I’m in better shape,” Lux said. “Since we faced him in early June, I’ve just had more at-bats, I’m more confident and I’ve seen more pitches. When you see a player the second time, hopefully you see him better than the first time.”
After Ryan left, left-hander Alex Vesia took over and pitched a scoreless inning before right-hander Michael Kopech (3-8) took the win with 1 1/3 innings.
The Dodgers made it 4-0 in the fifth inning when Hernandez hit a home run to right-center field against Skenes, his 26th of the season. Skenes has allowed nine home runs, three of them in his two starts against Los Angeles.
“The ball Teoscar hit was an error that stayed up,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The two throws to Lux were not bad throws and he hit them pretty well. (Skenes) didn’t allow a lot of hard contact other than that.”
The Dodgers’ defense did its best. Centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier took extra bases away from Rowdy Telez with a running catch in the fourth inning before he slammed into the wall. Third baseman Enrique Hernandez took away at least a double from Joey Bart with a diving catch near the free throw line in the sixth inning.
TRAINING ROOM
Pirates: RHP Domingo Germán emerged healthy from his four-inning debut for the Pirates on Friday and will continue to serve as a relief pitcher, although Shelton said they may consider a starting position in the near future. … RHP Jared Jones (lat) will have at least one more outing with Triple-A Indianapolis before considering a return. … OF Andrew McCutchen was not in the starting lineup for the second straight game but was available as a reliever.
Dodgers: 3B Max Muncy (oblique), who has not played since May 15, had a double and a walk in his first rehab game with Triple-A Oklahoma City. … OF Tommy Edman (wrist/ankle), acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, had his first rehab game since joining the Dodgers and collected a hit in three at-bats for Oklahoma City.
Next
Pirates: LHP Bailey Falter (5-7, 3.87 ERA) pitched two innings against the Padres on Tuesday and was removed from the game after a long rain delay.
Dodgers: RHP Tyler Glasnow (9-6, 3.54 ERA) will face his original club, which drafted him in the fifth round in 2011.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
