While Pittsburgh’s beloved Steelers kicked off the NFL preseason two hours away in Canton, Ohio, back in Pittsburgh, the Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers engaged in a slugfest before a sellout crowd at PNC Park whose final score would have been more appropriate for football.

Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins immediately set the tone of the game, driving Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton’s first pitch of the game into right field for a double. He would ultimately come around to score on an Adrian Gonzalez single two batters later. Gonzalez also came around to score, as the Dodgers succeeded in playing small ball with a series of bloop singles, stolen bases, and runners advancing on groundouts.

The same strategy held true for the Dodgers in the top of the third when Howie Kendrick singled up the middle, stole second, and came around to score on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Likewise, in the fifth, the Dodgers capitalized on an infield single and a walk, when Yasmani Grandal singled home Enrique Hernandez. Two batters later, Alberto Callaspo doubled in two more runs.

Needless to say, Pirates’ starter Charlie Morton, a sinkerballer whose performances this season have been largely hit or miss, pitched poorly enough to earn the loss. He surrendered five earned runs on ten hits in five innings, while walking three and striking out four. Morton has been plagued by the first inning all season, as his first-inning ERA prior to the evening stood at 10.66., before allowing yet another two first inning earned runs Sunday night. The Dodgers countered the starter with an aggressive approach at the plate, swinging early in their counts. Although they rarely hit Morton hard, everything seemed to break for them in the early innings, as ground balls got past infielders, fly balls fell in for outfield singles, and runners advanced whenever possible.

The Dodgers may have seized nearly every opportunity to score in the early innings, but the opposite seemed to be true for Pittsburgh. In the second inning, Francisco Cervelli hit a two-out triple to the gap in left-center, but a groundout by Neil Walker left him stranded. Meanwhile, in the sixth inning, Walker could not come around to cross the plate after hitting a one-out triple than narrowly missed clearing the ballpark.

Although recently acquired Dodgers starter Alex Wood impressed his first time through the Pirates’ batting order, he encountered command issues in the fourth, in which Aramis Ramirez hit a leadoff double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Cervelli. Later, in the bottom of the fifth, after Starling Marte walked, Pittsburgh’s franchise center fielder Andrew McCutchen took Wood deep with a two run shot to dead center, his seventeenth homer of the season. This got the Pirates within two runs.

In summary, Wood allowed three earned runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five. His ERA for the season currently stands at 3.72.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers brought the struggling ex-closer Jim Johnson on in middle relief for an outing that would prove to be his worst of the season. The breakdown of his outing is as follows:

  • Aramis Ramirez struck out looking.
  • Jung Ho Kang was hit by his second pitch of the evening.
  • Pinch hitter Pedro Alvarez singled to right. Despite a nice grab by defensive replacement Yasiel Puig to prevent extra bases, each runner got another bag thanks to Puig’s throwing error.
  • Francisco Cervelli singled home Kang. (5-4 Dodgers)
  • Neil Walker flew out to left. Dodgers’ outfielder made the sliding catch, so he was unable to prevent Alvarez from tagging up and scoring the tying run.(5-5 tie)
  • Sean Rodriguez singled to second, advancing the go-ahead run into scoring position.
  • Gregory Polanco drew a walk.
  • Starling Marte hit a weak grounder to third, so weak that third baseman Alberto Callaspo had to hold it without a throw, allowing the go-ahead run to score. (6-5 Pirates)
  • McCutchen singled to left field, scoring Rodriguez and Polanco. (8-5 Pirates)
  • Ramirez singled to center, scoring Marte. (9-5 Pirates)

Although at this point, Joel Peralta relieved Johnson, his woes weren’t quite over, as a deep three run homer to right field by Jung Ho Kang gave Johnson his seventh and eighth earned runs of his two thirds inning of work. Peralta returned for the eighth, and didn’t fare much better, giving up a solo home run to Cervelli, but capping the damage after that.

By contrast, the Pirates’ bullpen, who entered the game shorthanded with several overworked relievers unavailable, held its own admirably to shut down the Dodgers following Morton’s poor start. Arquimedes Caminero, arguably the best name in baseball, was the pitcher of record for the Pirates, with two effective innings of relief to earn his second win of the season. He struck out three batters, each time requiring only three pitches. Jared Hughes allowed a solo home run in the eighth, but avoided further damage, and Antonio Bastardo pitched a 1-2-3 mop up ninth.

To add injury to insult for the Dodgers, second baseman Howie Kendrick left the game in the fifth inning with a hamstring injury after beating out an infield hit. He is expected to be DL-bound. Enrique Hernandez filled in admirably in the game, coming around to score in the fifth, and homering in the eighth.

The Los Angeles Dodgers fall to 62-49 on the season, yet maintain their standing atop the NL West, three games ahead of the San Francisco Giants, who suffered a four game sweep at the hands of the Cubs. The Dodgers traveled back home after Sunday’s game to host the Washington Nationals at 10 P.M. EDT tonight. However, they are currently 16-27 in games against teams with winning records, an alarming trend for future weeks. Lefty Brett Anderson (6-6, 3.06) will make the start for Los Angeles, opposite Gio Gonzalez (8-4, 3.75).

The Pirates improve to 65-44 after their thirty-fourth comeback win of the season. Although they comfortably hold the first wild card spot, they will look to gain ground on the division leading St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday at Busch Stadium after a well-deserved off day today. The Cardinals currently lead Pittsburgh by five games in the NL Central.