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Standing ovation Jack Flaherty When he came down in the sixth inning of a 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, the praise from the 48,664 fans at Dodger Stadium seemed out of proportion to his career performance. First home start for hometown team.
Flaherty, a 28-year-old right-hander acquired from the Detroit Tigers minutes before the July 30 trade deadline, allowed four runs on nine hits in 5 ⅔ innings and needed to strike out nearly every time to overcome base crowding in his 110 pitches.
But for Flaherty, the applause was more of a “welcome home, we’re glad you’re here” message. Flaherty, a Burbank native who has been attending Dodgers games with his mother, Irene, since he was an infant, was on the mound where he led Harvard-Westlake High School to a Southern Division 1 championship in 2013.
Flaherty is not like him His Dodgers debuthe allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked one over six scoreless innings in a 10-0 road win over Oakland on August 3. He led by six runs through the first three innings, but gave up a home run and three runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, nearly deciding the game.
But he kept the Pirates at bay and got out of trouble with a few big pitches, helping the Dodgers maintain a 2.5-game National League West lead over the San Diego Padres and a 3.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers fought back with Freddie Freeman’s home run in the first inning and a five-run third inning to take a 6-0 lead behind Flaherty. Shohei Otani The NL-leading 35th homer, a towering two-run shot off right-hander Mitch Keller, traveled 448 feet to center field at 113.9 mph.
Teoscar Hernandez Will Smith, who was a dismal 3-for-44 (.068) in 12 games since July 22, hit a two-run single to right field, reached second base on a wild pitch and scored on Miguel Rojas’ single.
The Pirates cut the deficit to 6-1 in the fourth on O’Neill Cruz’s leadoff homer to right (his 18th homer of the season). Flaherty allowed a single to Rowdy Tellez and a double to Ke’Bryan Hayes, then struck out Yasmani Grandal with a 95 mph fastball to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Dodgers extended their lead to 7-1 when Jason Heyward hit a double to right-center field and scored on Hernández’s two-out single to right field, the outfielder’s 30th two-out RBI of the season.
After Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds each hit a one-out single, Flaherty looked like he could escape another tough time when he hit a 78 mph curveball to Cruz in the top of the fifth inning.
But he threw an 85-mph slider through the center of the plate that beat batter Joey Bart, who hit it to left center for a three-run homer, his 10th of the season, to bring Pittsburgh within 7-4.
The Dodgers’ Kiké Hernández waves to left field after hitting a two-run home run against the Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
(John McCoy/AP)
How did the Dodgers respond to Flaherty’s poor performance? We’re rooting for you.
With Smith on base in the bottom of the fifth inning, right-hander Domingo Germán threw his 11th pitch, and Kiké Hernández hit a two-out laser over the head of left fielder Reynolds. Reynolds jumped up the cordon and touched the ball with the tip of his glove, but hit it over the wall for a two-run home run, giving the Dodgers a 9-4 lead.
That allowed manager Dave Roberts to focus on Flaherty, who walked Bryan De La Cruz and allowed a two-out single to Michael Taylor in the top of the sixth before being replaced in favor of left-hander Anthony Banda, who struck out Kiner-Falefa to end the inning.
Banda ended the seventh inning scoreless with two strikeouts; Evan Phillips ended the eighth inning with two strikeouts, and Daniel Hudson allowed one run in the ninth.
Short-haul flights
Third baseman Max Muncy, out since May 16 with an oblique strain, and newly recruited versatile Tommy Edman, recovering from an ankle injury, will begin minor league rehab Saturday at Triple-A Oklahoma City. Roberts said both could be activated in “about a week,” with Edman set to spend most of his time in center field. … Right-hander Walker Buehler, who played Thursday night for Oklahoma City, allowed one run, one hit, struck out five and walked three in 5 ⅓ innings, and he will likely return to the rotation next Thursday in Milwaukee.
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