“All I know is that he is progressing and we expect him back sometime in September”.
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Ten hits, 11 walks and 18 runners left on base added up a lot frustration – and some wishful thinking – for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Seager leads the Dodgers with 40 multi-hit games this season. “We couldn’t get them in”, manager Clint Hurdle after an 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. “We couldn’t get them in”. He gave up a whopping 12 hits and six runs (four earned) and only had three strikeouts. His defenders contributed three errors.
Acquired by the Dodgers to be the “top-end starter” they lack with Clayton Kershaw injured and will need if they are to make a postseason run, Rich Hill has been unable to pitch for them – or at all since the tip of his middle finger ripped open on July 17 – due to blister issues. His inconsistency, like the team’s, is hard to diagnose. McCarthy will likely be given some time to rest and get his hip right, at which point he could join the bullpen or the rotation.
“Nine?” he said when asked how many innings he thinks he could pitch against the Reds next week. “Sometimes, you get those guys on the ground”. Three walks and a hit batter allowed the Pirates to score in the first inning without McCarthy relinquishing a hit. The first five batters in their lineup were left-handers, and that quintet was 8 for 15 against Cole.
The Dodgers are still at 26 different players on the disabled list in 2016, one shy of the major league record. “This really doesn’t wrinkle me too much”.
The phone in the Dodgers bullpen sounded in the second inning.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in Los Angeles.
Fields served up an RBI single to Kang for a 3-1 Pittsburgh lead. With Saturday’s starter Brandon McCarthy nearly certainly headed to the DL because of a hip injury, Norris could be plugged back into the rotation.
As the Pirates offense stalled, the Dodgers loosed the lumber. They scattered balls across the outfield, and the Pirates defense lacked the assurance it had shown Friday behind Ivan Nova.
Ravin was recalled earlier in the week, and struck out three in two scoreless innings in his three appearances. The errors were the sixth and seventh committed by Kang in eight games this month.
The slumping Kang was 2 for 2 and reached base five times. His eighth-inning solo shot off righty Pedro Baez was his first home run since June 24, his first multiple-hit game since June 19. Justin Turner is sitting on 110 hits with 56 runs, 21 homers and 67 RBI. “I finally get some weak contact after some hard-hit balls in the first, I dive and land on my wrist a little weird and then it stiffens up”. “He’s a good bunter”. “They found holes and they were able to going and moving on us”. “Unfortunately, that didn’t work”.
In the bottom of the fifth, back-to-back doubles – both misplayed by right fielder Gregory Polanco – drove in a run, and a second scored when John Jaso fielded a sacrifice bunt and shoveled a throw home. After review, replay officials determined the tag was late.
After Harrison singled on Anderson’s first pitch of the game, Mercer hit a 3-2 pitch into the left-field bleachers for his eighth home run.
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The Pirates are 6-0 in their last six games against a left-handed starter, and 12-5 in their last 17 road games versus a left-handed starter.
