The Los Angeles Dodgers looked to rebound from having their six-game winning streak snapped, which coupled with a San Francisco Giants victory, dropped them to seven games back of first place in the National League West.
Jeff Locke opened Saturday’s matchup with a strikeout of Kiké Hernandez on just three pitches. After a routine Justin Turner groundout, Josh Harrison made a terrific diving stop on a ball up the middle to rob Corey Seager of a single that would have extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Kenta Maeda issued a four-pitch walk to John Jaso to start the bottom of the first. Jaso then moved into scoring position with no outs on a wild pitch. Starling Marte’s soft grounder to shortstop moved Jason to third, where he was stranded by Andrew McCutchen and David Freese.
Locke sailed through the second inning by retiring Trayce Thompson, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig in order on just eight pitches. Maeda wasn’t quite as efficient, but he too retired the side in order in the second.
The Dodgers didn’t find any success in the third inning, with Maeda putting together the best at-bat of the inning, which ended on a fly out. Maeda struck out Eric Kratz and Locke, then got Jaso to roll a slow grounder into the shift for a quick inning.
Locke got through the top of the Dodgers’ lineup without issue in the fourth to keep his perfect game intact. Maeda lost his no-hitter with one out in the bottom of the fourth on a McCutchen solo home run.
Freese followed with a base hit up the middle and he moved into scoring position on a grounder that Gonzalez didn’t field cleanly, which left his only play at first base. Maeda limited the damage to just the one run by inducing Harrison into a groundout.
Thompson, Gonzalez and Puig weren’t able to do anything in their second look of the game at Locke, as they went down in order in the fifth. Locke’s bid for a perfect game ended on a Scott Van Slyke leadoff double in the sixth inning.
A.J. Ellis followed with an RBI double to right field that tied the game. However, the Dodgers’ momentum stalled as Ellis took too much of secondary lead with Maeda at the plate, and was picked off second base.
Maeda singled to right field and moved into scoring position position with two outs but was stranded. After Jaso drew his second four-pitch walk of the game, Marte poked a base hit into right field to put two on with no outs in the bottom of the sixth.
McCutchen landed the knockout punch with his three-run home run giving the Pirates a 4-1 lead. Joe Blanton replaced Maeda and gave up a two-run homer before he managed to get out of the inning.
Seager extended his hitting streak to nine games with a leadoff double in the seventh. Puig pulled a base hit into left field and advance to second on Marte’s high throw to home plate. Van Slyke chased a high pitch and struck out to end the inning.
Tony Watson took over in the eighth and promptly gave up a leadoff single to Ellis. Howie Kendrick followed with a pinch-hit double, narrowly missing a home run to right-center field. Watson quickly settled in to strike out the side consisting of, Hernandez, Turner and Seager.
Puig reached on a shift-induced infield single with two outs in the ninth but the Dodgers never truly threatened to mount a comeback and lost, 6-1, to the Pirates.
