Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow delivers to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez gestures after hitting a two RBI double in the second inning during a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, Aug.
11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani gets ready in the dugout during the first inning during a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani flies out the first inning during a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Amed Rosario (27) slides under a high throw to Pittsburgh Pirates’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa (7) for a stolen base in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug.
11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bailey Falter delivers to the plate in the second inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Pittsburgh Pirates’ Ji Hwan Bae beats the throw to Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman (5) on an attempted pick off play in the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug.
11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith is congratulated in the dugout after scoring a run in the first inning during a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow delivers to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea) LOS ANGELES — With the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks rapidly closing ground in the National League West, the Dodgers no longer have the luxury of being able to wait for their injured stars to return.
To maintain their stranglehold on the division, the Dodgers have to hit their stride now, regardless of who is in the lineup or on the mound. Teoscar Hernandez stepped up to do just that on Sunday, hitting a walkoff, two-out RBI single to lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 win over the Pirates in 10 innings and complete a three-game sweep. Hernandez’s walkoff saved the Dodgers after they blew a late lead and came face-to-face with the prospect of letting a winnable game slip away.
After Tyler Glasnow delivered seven sharp innings, left-handed Anthony Banda entered with a 4-2 lead in the eighth and served up a two-run homer to Andrew McCutchen, McCutchen’s second of the game, to tie the score. The Dodgers stranded the tying run on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, and the Pirates made them pay in the 10th. Bryan Reynolds blooped a shallow fly ball off Evan Phillips that Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez failed to come up with, allowing automatic runner Michael A.
Taylor to score from second base with the go-ahead run. Kiké Hernandez led off the top of the 10th with a double to left field off Pirates closer David Bednar to score automatic runner Miguel Rojas and tie the score. With none out and the winning run on second, the Dodgers nearly wasted another prime chance when Jason Heyward struck out and Shohei Ohtani popped.
But Hernandez saved the day, lining an elevated 98 mph fastball into right field to score Hernandez with the winning run and send the Dodgers into a frenzied celebration. The Dodgers had lost eight of 13 games entering the series and watched their division lead shrivel from 7.5 to 2.
5 games. The much-needed sweep is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t get any easier from here. The Dodgers’ next 20 games are all against teams with winning records, starting with a four-game road series at the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Related Articles The good news is the Dodgers will soon receive needed reinforcements. Mookie Betts is scheduled to come off the injured list Monday, Walker Buehler is set to be activated Wednesday and Max Muncy and Tommy Edman are tentatively slated to return following the Dodgers’ upcoming seven-day road trip. Still, they’ll hardly be at full health.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto still doesn’t have a date for a rehab start and key relievers Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol remain out with no firm timeline to return. Hernandez did his part to send the Dodgers into the road trip on a high note. Because of his heroics, they’ll begin their most difficult stretch of the season with some much-needed momentum.
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