Dodgers lean on doubles to defeat Pirates, whose late rally falls short

Wil Crowe was looking to get the Los Angeles Dodgers to make soft contact, a game plan that was working for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander. What went wrong is how the ball kept landing in gaps.

The Dodgers hit leadoff doubles in four of the first eight innings on their way to a season-best six doubles against the Pirates – but it was a two-out double by Matt Beaty that paid dividends.

Beaty doubled down the right field line past a diving Pirates first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to score two runs in the fifth inning, and the Dodgers held on for a 4-3 win Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s frustrating just because of the fact that sometimes that’s baseball,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You get a jam shot, it falls in and they get two runs on it. … Sometimes that’s just how baseball goes, and it went their way. They put the ball in play and the ball hit the outfield grass, and the balls that we hit didn’t.”

The Dodgers (74-46) beat the Pirates (42-78) for the 15th consecutive time, including a dozen in L.A. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Pirates, who have lost 12 of their past 13 games.

Crowe allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four and got out of jams in the first and second innings, though it came at the price of his pitch count.

“Any game you’re gonna take stuff out of, especially a lineup like this,” Crowe said. “Everybody on their team has either been an All-Star or is an All-Star. I think each outing you take lessons from different things. My stuff was playing. Against them, it was playing well.”

In the first, Crowe gave up a leadoff double to Trea Turner, who advanced to third on Will Smith’s flyout to left. But Crowe struck out Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock to end the inning.

Beaty led off the second with a single, reached second on Chris Taylor’s walk and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by David Price. Crowe got out of it with a fly ball to right. But he was at 58 pitches after only two innings, which shortened his start.

More trouble came in the third. Corey Seager led off with a double to left-center. When Bellinger hit a bloop to shallow left-center, Seager held at third base but Bellinger stretched it into a double. It mattered little, as Pollock followed with a two-run single to center for a 2-0 lead.

“You have three of the softest hits I’ve given up all year. They all happen to be back-to-back-to-back,” Crowe said. “That’s what happens in baseball sometimes.”

The Pirates tied it at 2-2 in the fourth, when Reynolds smoked a double off Dodgers lefty starter David Price to left to score Ke’Bryan Hayes and advanced to third on Tsutsugo’s fly out to right. Reynolds scored on a contact read on a Jacob Stallings grounder to third, sliding past an errant throw to home by Gavin Lux.

Stallings, however, was stranded at second and the Pirates left two more runners on base in the fifth as Price allowed two runs on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4⅔ innings. Corey Knebel (2-0) got the win for the Dodgers after pitching 1⅓ scoreless innings in relief.

Crowe was relieved by Cody Ponce (0-3) in the fifth. Seager doubled to left and Pollock drew a two-out walk to set the table for Beaty, who hit a two-run double past Tsutsugo down the first base line for a 4-2 lead.

For the second consecutive game, Tsutsugo doubled down the left field line in the ninth against his former team. The Pirates had the tying run on base against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, as Gregory Polanco drew a one-out walk and Colin Moran hit a broken-bat single to shallow left to score Tsutsugo and cut it to 4-3. Jansen, however, got Ben Gamel to line out and Hoy Park to ground out to earn his 25th save.

“It’s frustrating because of the fact you didn’t finish,” Shelton said. “I think the one thing about our club is they don’t give up. We’re playing one of the best teams in baseball right now, and both situations against a really elite closer, we get the tying run in scoring position, and we had the winning run on base. Our guys just continue to go and continue to battle. I give them credit for that.”