Báez pitches critical 8th in Dodgers win over Pirates

The Dodgers escaped with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. But not without a little bit of drama on the side.

The visiting Pirates would strike first, snagging one run off of Clayton Kershaw in the third inning. Kershaw otherwise had a solid outing - going seven inning and allowing just the one run to score from four hits and striking out eight while he was at it.

It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Dodgers would get on the board, but it was better late than never.

Back-to-back base hits would set up Max Muncy at third base with Chris Taylor coming to bat. Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive Muncy home to tie the ball game at one run a piece.

Austin Barnes followed with another base hit, to provide Joc Pederson with a two-out, two-on situation when he came up to bat. He came in clutch, hitting a bases-clearing triple to push the Dodgers into the lead.

Things got tense in the top half of the eighth inning, when the bases were full with Pirates with no outs, putting the Dodgers’ 3-1 lead at risk. Pedro Báez came in to relieve Caleb Ferguson from the situation. And he wouldn’t disappoint. Báez got out of the inning completely untouched and preserved the game’s score.

The Dodgers went down quietly in the bottom half of the 8th, bringing in Kenley Jansen to throw in the 9th inning.

Jansen delivered a 1-2-3 inning, earning his ninth save of the season and securing the Dodgers’ victory.

Though the Dodgers ended their record of 33 straight home games with a home run, it was sacrificed for a win.

Look ahead

The Dodgers head into Sunday’s game looking to sweep the Pirates. They send Rich Hill to the mound for his first game this season, facing right-handed pitcher Trevor Williams. First pitch is set for 1:10 pm PDT.