Dodgers 8, Pirates 4: Losing streak snapped as the Big 3 of Teoscar, Shohei, and … Pages come through

Chad Moriyama 04/26/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

The Dodgers have been struggling ever since their perfect start to the season, and things didn’t look great in the middle of the game today either as the team continued to play sloppily. Thankfully, the pitchers avoided enough big innings and the offense eventually came through late behind Teoscar Hernandez and Enrique Hernandez homers to snap a three-game slide for an 8-4 win over the Pirates.

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Coming off three outings in a row where he’s gradually improved, Roki Sasaki was greeted rudely by Oneil Cruz hitting the first pitch of the game for a homer that made it 1-0 Pirates after one half of the 1st.

Fortunately, the Dodgers did come right back in their half, as Shohei Ohtani led off with a double and Teoscar eventually brought him home with a double of his own to tie the game up.

A routine grounder followed, but Tommy Edman reached and Freddie scored when it was thrown into the Pirates dugout for an error. 2-1 Dodgers after the 1st.

Roki ran into trouble again in the 2nd when a single and walk cornered the runners, but he got bailed out when following a groundout, a flyout to shallow right led to a bizarre tag attempt that ended in a double play.

In the 3rd, Roki got squeezed on a walk but worked around it, and he followed with a clean 4th on just 11 pitches.

It certainly seemed like he had settled in, but he ran into trouble to start the 5th again with a single and a double to start. Roki got a strikeout next, but it was Cruz again who singled to right to plate a pair and give the Pirates back a 3-2 lead. The second run on that play scored when Teoscar assumed the runner went home as he lobbed one in to second, but they would’ve scored anyway when Andy Pages was forced to rob Bryan Reynolds at the wall in center to prevent a big inning, and Roki got through the 5th.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers lineup continued to struggle to push runs across, as in the 2nd they had a prime chance with a one-out walk by Max Muncy and then a double by Pages, but the struggling Ohtani and Mookie Betts couldn’t move either runner.

They went completely silent in the 3rd and 4th, but a one-out Ohtani triple set the table in the 5th. After Mookie struck out, Freddie bailed him out with a single to tie the game at 3-3.

Keller finished his outing with a clean 6th as the Dodgers couldn’t really make him pay at any point.

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Surprisingly, Roki came out for the 6th as well, getting two outs before hitting a batter with two strikes, which sorta sums up his journey to this point.

Another acceptable start that showcased the promise and inconsistencies of his career here so far: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 93 Pitches.

Jack Dreyer entered and ended the frame with a strikeout, but continued in the 7th and just didn’t have it. A hard-hit grounder went for an infield single after a diving stop, another single followed, and then a walk loaded the bases. Dreyer got an out on a Freddie stab at first, but didn’t cover first on a potential double play.

That was it for him, and Evan Phillips navigated around disaster with a strikeout and then Freddie’s diving play to prevent two runs. Still, it was 4-3 Pirates.

The Dodgers did manage to get a run back against the Pirates pen, who entered in the 7th. A one-out Pages single was followed by an Ohtani double to score him and tie the game at 4-4.

Ohtani then stole third and Mookie walked to corner the runners, at which point Freddie grounded into an odd double play where Mookie didn’t slide into second and Shohei didn’t go home. Just … bad baseball.

Back to the Dodgers pen, it was Kirby Yates in the 8th, who pitched around a double and a walk to give the Dodgers a chance.

And they took advantage of that chance immediately, as Teoscar bombed a ball to left for his seventh of the season and a 5-4 lead.

An Edman double and a Will Smith walk followed, then Enrique pinch-hit to face a new lefty out of the pen, and he did his lefty-killing duty by hitting his fifth of the year for a three-run shot to make it 8-4.

Of course, they still managed to strand runners at the corners with nobody out, getting nothing further after that except a walk to load the bases with two outs, but hey, can’t have everything!

To close the game out was Tanner Scott, who got two strikeouts and a flyout to end it.

Getting there?

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NL WestRecordGB
Giants18-10–
Padres17-100.5
Dodgers17-100.5

The rubber match of the series will be an earlier game tomorrow at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET. It’ll be Tyler Glasnow looking to not cramp up this time against Bailey Falter.

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