Dodgers beat Pirates with late homers to end 3-game skid

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani lit the fuse for a double dose of Hernandez and the Dodgers found the offense they sensed was coming all along.

Teoscar’s Hernandez’s go-ahead home run in the eighth inning came just before a three-home run homer from Kiké Hernandez in a four-run eighth inning. Ohtani set the stage for both with three extra-base hits and two runs scored to power an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that ended a three-game losing streak.

The short-term skid was filled with good offensive days and bad, like Friday when they were blanked by the Pirates and ace Paul Skenes. They had 18 runs in two games against the Chicago Cubs yet lost both.

Saturday night was a better example of marrying strong pitching with enough hitting like a triple and two doubles from Ohtani.

It was almost like Manager Dave Roberts could see the night coming.

“I think it’s just more getting back to who we are in the sense of just being proactive in the batter’s box, being aggressive in our hitting zones,” Roberts said before the game. “I think … we’re a little too careful, kind of feeling our way into at-bats, around at-bats, through at-bats.

“So just kind of being on the attack, getting back to the whole scaring pitchers out of the hitting zone. And if we can do that, then I think that kind of adds that edge back to our club.”

Maybe the clairvoyance was a manager’s version of coming through on his bobblehead night. Fans received a Roberts collectible replicating his raised-arm reaction after the Dodgers won the World Series last October.

Saturday’s victory was nowhere near as sweet as the title, but the win – and Ohtani’s return to production after a 1-for-16 skid – was a relief nonetheless.

“It was a really good start to something that hopefully will be a good streak,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on the SportsNet LA broadcast. “I haven’t been playing well, so it was a good night.”

After Teoscar Hernandez hit a home run to left field to break a 4-4 tie, Kiké Hernandez hit his pinch-hit home run three batters later. It was Kiké Hernandez’s eighth career pinch-hit home run and the first the Dodgers have hit this season.

“I just saw everybody grinding all the at-bats they were taking that big inning,” Teoscar Hernandez said. “All the pitches, they were on it, trying to foul it off, get a better one, and then just put it in play.”

The Pirates’ Oneil Cruz continues to show that he is headed for stardom by hitting Roki Sasaki’s first pitch of the game for a home run. It was the fourth leadoff home run of the season and career for Cruz, who also opened a game with a homer against the Angels earlier in the week.

Ohtani ended his recent dry spell with a double to lead off the bottom of the first inning. In danger of being stranded after Mookie Betts lined out and Freddie Freeman struck out Teoscar Hernandez tied the score with a two-out double.

Teoscar Hernandez scored when Tommy Edman hit a routine ground ball to second base but the Pirates’ Adam Frazier botched the easy throw for an error.

Cruz’s menacing night against Sasaki continued in the fifth inning. Frazier led off with a single and Tommy Pham doubled. Cruz rolled a single to right field at 110.9 mph off the bat, scoring both runners for a 3-2 Pittsburgh lead.

Ohtani tripled to right field with one out in the bottom of the fifth and scored on a two-out single from Freddie Freeman to tie the score.

“It’s great when you see Shohei hitting the ball hard to the outfield for an extra-base hit,” Teoscar Hernandez said. “He’s the one that always, if he’s on base, we’re gonna follow him.”

The Pirates moved back in front in the seventh against rookie Jack Dreyer. Pham and Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to open the seventh and Cruz walked to load the bases. Pham scored on a Bryan Reynolds ground out that could have been a double play but Dreyer was late to cover the first-base bag.

Evan Phillips prevented any further damage in his fourth appearance of the season when he struck out Andrew McCutchen and got Emmanuel Valdez on a ground ball to first base where Freeman made a diving stop and threw to Phillips at first for the out.

Phillips’ work set the stage for Ohtani’s third extra-base hit of the game, an RBI double to left-center that scored Andy Pages and evened things again at 4-4. But with Ohtani at third and Mookie Betts at first base with one out, Freeman grounded into a double play.

As Sasaki continues to search for a flow in his rookie season, there is a definitive beat now. A new warm-up song with a Latin flair had the Dodgers’ bench animated before the game, but Cruz shifted the energy to his own dugout with his eighth home run of the season.

Sasaki finished his night by allowing three runs on five hits over 4⅔ innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The outing came on a Dodgers-high 93 pitches, 12 more than his April 12 start against the Chicago Cubs. It was his sixth MLB outing.

“My delivery feels pretty in sync. And even the pitches I don’t really necessarily command, I feel pretty good about,” Sasaki said through Ireton. “As long as I get my (velocity) up a little bit, I think I’ll be able to pitch the way I want to.”