Right-hander Jack Flaherty had 10 strikeouts in his home debut and was backed by three home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 9-5 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
In his second start since he was traded from the Detroit Tigers to his hometown team, Flaherty (9-5) gave up four runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings and threw 110 pitches. Four Dodgers pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts.
Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Enrique Hernandez each hit home runs as the Dodgers won for the fourth time in their past six games. The victory came after Los Angeles lost consecutive games to the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies.
Oneil Cruz and Joey Bart each hit home runs for the Pirates, who lost their fifth consecutive game. Right-hander Mitch Keller (10-6) gave up seven runs on seven hits in four innings for Pittsburgh.
Right-hander Domingo German made his Pirates debut and gave up two runs in four relief innings. German delivered a perfect game for the New York Yankees last season before an acrimonious departure from the club.
Freeman gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the first with a home run to right field, his 17th.
In the third, Andy Pages walked and Ohtani crushed a 448-foot home run to center field for a 3-0 Los Angeles lead. It was Ohtani’s NL-leading 35th of the season.
Teoscar Hernandez followed Ohtani’s home run with a walk, Freeman doubled and Will Smith punched a two-run single to right field. A two-out RBI single from Miguel Rojas increased the advantage to 6-0.
Cruz’s home run off Flaherty to lead off the fourth was his 18th of the season. The Dodgers answered again in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Teoscar Hernandez.
In the fifth, the Pirates received singles from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds before Bart hit a three-run home run to left-center field, his 10th, to cut the deficit to 7-4.
Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run home run off German in the bottom of the fifth, his seventh, to give the Dodgers a 9-4 lead.
Cruz had an RBI single for Pittsburgh in the ninth on his third hit of the game.
