PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers traded one win for two new worries.
Justin Wrobleski and Shohei Ohtani each left with injuries during Thursday’s 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wrobleski left in the fifth inning after taking a comebacker off his leg and colliding with a runner while covering first base. Ohtani, meanwhile, was pinch-hit for in the seventh – after hitting his 13th home run of the season earlier in the game – leaving with left knee inflammation. Ohtani had minor surgery on that knee in 2019.
Wrobleski cruised through the first four innings with his familiar combination of efficiency and soft contact. He walked two and gave up two singles but got one double play and only one of those baserunners made it to second base.
The Dodgers staked him to a nice five-run lead, driving Pirates starter Mitch Keller from the game with 13 baserunners in the first four innings – seven hits, four walks and two hit batters.
One of those hits was a solo home run by Ohtani in the third inning (his second home run in a span of three plate appearances). Andy Pages followed with a single and Keller loaded the bases by hitting Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy with two outs. Two runs scored when Kyle Tucker’s pop-up dropped in shallow left field.
Two more runs scored in the fourth inning when Ohtani, Pages and Freeman strung together three consecutive two-out singles and Keller wild-pitched a run home.
The Dodgers’ night began to take a turn in the fifth inning.
The Pirates went deep twice on Wrobleski – a solo home run by catcher Rafael Flores Jr. (his first MLB home run) and a two-run drive by Brandon Lowe into the right-field seats. Wrobleski’s night ended on his next pitch.
Bryan Reynolds sent the first-pitch fastball back at Wrobleski. The comebacker bounced off Wrobleski’s leg and ricocheted between first and second base. Freeman retrieved it and fired to Wrobleski covering first base. But Wrobleski couldn’t find the base and clipped legs with Reynolds as he crossed the base.
Manager Dave Roberts and a trainer came out from the Dodgers’ dugout to check on Wrobleski who hobbled back to the mound, ready to stay in the game. But Roberts called for the bullpen.
Will Klein came in and gave up back-to-back singles, which cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-4 before getting out of the inning.
The Dodgers stretched their lead with two runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth. Along the way, though, Santiago Espinal pinch-hit for Ohtani with two runners on and the game still close.
That cushion was almost not enough. Wrobleski’s early departure left the game in the hands of a Dodgers’ bullpen that has struggled in June and gave up a lead in Wednesday’s loss. This time, Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer handed a four-run lead to Edgardo Henriquez in the eighth inning. He gave up half of it on three consecutive extra-base hits – a triple and two doubles – before Tanner Scott came on for a four-out save, striking out the side in the ninth.
More to come on this story.
