Dodgers stumble against another losing team, drop series opener to Pirates

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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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PITTSBURGH — Well, at least they won’t have to play any of these teams in October.

But the Dodgers’ inability to take advantage of the soft spots on their schedule over the past month is making it harder for them to get there. They let their guard down again Tuesday night, losing the opener of a three-game series, 9-7, to a Pittsburgh Pirates team headed for their third straight (and fifth in the past seven seasons) last-place finish in the National League Central.

The Dodgers have now lost 10 of their past 14 games against teams currently sporting losing records.

“I don’t think we look at it as winning record, losing record. We’re just trying to win games,” starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. “I’ll tell you right now, the Pirates are just trying to beat us probably worse than anybody else. That’s just part of being the Dodgers. We take everybody’s best shot and we’re trying to win every game. So every game that we lose is frustrating. Every game that we win feels good.”

That is a familiar trope around the Dodgers – everyone brings their best against the defending champions. All too often, the Dodgers have not returned the favor.

“Nothing we can do about it,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Obviously we didn’t play well. We all know that. Don’t have to necessarily have a team ‘come-to-Jesus’ about it. We’ve just got to find ways to win games. There’s no secret formula about it. It doesn’t matter if a team’s below .500 or above .500. Especially times right now we’ve got to find ways to win games. We’re not doing it.”

They had to work to lose this one. Spotting the Pirates a 4-0 head start, the Dodgers came back to tie the score but fell behind again when the Pirates scored five times against the Dodgers’ bullpen.

After breezing through August with five wins in five starts and just six runs allowed, September came in like a lion for Kershaw.

The first five Pirates reached base against the veteran left-hander – a leadoff double by Jared Triolo hit 102.5 mph off the bat, back-to-back walks and another double, this one blooped down the right field line. Teoscar Hernandez got there in time but came up empty on his sliding attempt to make a catch that Statcast estimated would be made nine times out of 10.

But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn’t willing to criticize Hernandez for not making the play.

“No. That was something that, I felt, just looking at it, I thought Teo got a good jump on the ball,” Roberts said. “He gave a good effort, just didn’t come up with it. So for me, if I see a good jump getting off the ball, good effort, I’ve got no problem with it. I really don’t.”

Andrew McCutchen ripped a line drive 105.4 mph back at Kershaw who got his glove on it but couldn’t make a play. A fourth run scored on a sacrifice fly before Kershaw could escape the inning.

“Just wasn’t throwing good. I’m not sure why,” Kershaw said of the four-run first. “Can’t walk that many guys obviously. Fortunate to get through five, but obviously the first inning’s kind of what did me in.

“After you have that bad of a first, you just got to kind of wash it as best you can and just try to stay out there as long as you can for your team.”

McCutchen’s liner back at Kershaw was not the hardest-hit ball in this game. Not even close. It wasn’t even the hardest-hit ball back to the mound.

Kershaw walked two more batters but didn’t give up a hit after the first inning – despite Tommy Pham ripping a line drive 111 mph back at him. The future Hall of Famer somehow contorted in Matrix-like fashion to avoid getting hit – and caught the ball to end the fifth inning (and his night).

“Was that what it was?” Kershaw said when told the exit velocity on Pham’s liner. “It was either that or my face, so glad it hit the glove. That was a hard one.”

But that was not the hardest-hit ball in this game either.

That honor went to the 120-mph rocket Shohei Ohtani hit into the right-field stands in the third inning. The solo home run was his hardest-hit ball of the season and the third-hardest hit in MLB this year (behind one hit 122.9 mph by the Pirates’ Oneil Cruz and another hit 120.4 mph by Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.).

“At this point, there’s not much more he can do to amaze me,” Betts said, standing on deck for the rocket launch. “It’s just another homer for Shohei.”

Not quite. It was the 100th home run of Ohtani’s Dodgers career – 54 last season, 46 and counting this season. He is the fastest ever to hit 100 home runs in a Dodgers uniform, doing it in 294 games and flying past Cody Bellinger (401 games) and Gary Sheffield (399).

That was part of the Dodgers’ comeback from the 4-0 first-inning deficit. Andy Pages tied the score with a solo home run in the fourth inning.

But the Dodgers’ bullpen gave the lead back. Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen combined to give up three runs in the sixth inning. Michael Kopech and Anthony Banda collaborated on another run in the seventh. And Kirby Yates did that on his own in the eighth.

“I just felt the bullpen – we weren’t sharp tonight,” Roberts said. “As we kept fighting to get back, we kept giving it back. Just one of those nights. But we gotta be better. There were some key at-bats, whether by way of walk or getting count leverage that we couldn’t put these guys away, which led to some runs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t overcome it.”

The Dodgers’ bullpen – supposedly fortified by the returns of Kopech, Tanner Scott and Yates over the past week – has given up 11 runs in seven innings over their past three games.

“For me, you’re just trying to find dependable players. And that’s where we’re at,” Roberts said. “These are all meaningful games on the margins. Everything matters. And there’s a lot of things you can look at tonight on the run prevention side that we just weren’t good at. As you start playing important games – and these are important games – they show themselves. They always find a way to show themselves.”

The Dodgers did close the gap with two runs in the seventh inning, the second gifted on a bad call by home plate umpire Nic Lentz. The Pirates thought they had Will Smith struck out on a foul tip to end the inning. But Lentz ruled Smith had checked his swing with no foul. Pirates manager Don Kelly argued to no avail and Smith stroked the next pitch into center field for an RBI single (his third hit of the game).

Ohtani drove in another run in the ninth with his third hit and second double of the game before former Dodger Dennis Santana closed it out for the Pirates.

“I thought that there were different points in the game that we showed some life,” Roberts said. “And then, unfortunately, we just couldn’t kind of put up that zero to build off of it.”

Dodgers stumble against another losing team, drop series opener to Pirates – Orange County Register

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