LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pinch-hitter Josh Palacios came through with a tiebreaking two-run double in a three-run ninth inning that rallied the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-7 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night to snap a three-game skid.
“July Fourth baseball is always lit, and to have a comeback like that with the boys and be able to finish it off is a blessing,” Palacios said. “It just shows the boys if you keep working hard, you keep trusting in your processes, you keep grinding and keep staying resilient, good things happen.”
Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips struck out Carlos Santana, then issued consecutive walks to Jack Suwinski and Nick Gonzales. Suwinski scored on Jared Triolo’s single off Phillips that tied it at 7.
“If a player says he feels good, then you’ve got to trust him and quite honestly we didn’t have anyone else,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was the right spot for him, he was ready to go and it didn’t work out.”
Triolo had struck out three times in his first four at-bats.
“You’ll never know if he’s having an 0-for-5 or a 5-for-5 day,” Gonzales said. “When he comes up for that sixth at-bat, he’ll be ready.”
Palacios batted for Rodolfo Castro and doubled into left field, scoring Gonzales and Triolo for a 9-7 lead.
The Pirates bounced back after pinch-hitter Jonny Deluca’s solo homer in the eighth gave the Dodgers a 7-6 lead.
David Bednar (3-0) got five outs for the win after being added to the NL All-Star roster earlier in the day as an injury replacement.
The Pirates rallied three times to tie the game.
“That was one of our most intense,” Suwinski said. “A lot of fight in there, good comeback win for the guys. Just shows that we can do it — we can play in these type of environments.”
James Outman slugged a pair of two-run homers, both times giving Los Angeles the lead, and Mookie Betts added his 23rd homer for the Dodgers. Jason Heyward went 2 for 3 and scored twice.
Deluca batted for Heyward and went deep to left field off Angel Perdomo for his first major league homer. The 24-year-old outfielder from Thousand Oaks in Ventura County took a curtain call in front of 51,487 cheering fans.
The Pirates tied the game at 6 in the sixth. Henry Davis singled to left off Gavin Stone, and David Peralta’s throw kicked off the glove of catcher Will Smith as Austin Hedges made a headfirst slide home. The throw put runners at second and third before Stone walked Santana to load the bases.
Suwinski took a called third strike. Gonzales grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Santana was out at second to end the inning.
Suwinski went deep for the Pirates leading off the fourth — his 442-shot was the longest of the game — and Hedges’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it at 4. Bryan Reynolds’ RBI single off Caleb Ferguson put the Pirates ahead 5-4.
The Dodgers rallied to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the inning on Outman’s 407-foot shot that scored Heyward, who singled leading off against starter Luis Ortiz.
Outman’s first homer in the second traveled 436 feet to right-center and scored Heyman, who singled. Two batters later, Betts homered for a 4-1 lead.
Will Smith’s sacrifice fly in the first scored Betts and left the Dodgers trailing 2-1.
Dodgers rookie Emmet Sheehan had a shaky 37-pitch first. After he loaded the bases on three consecutive two-out walks, Gonzales hit a ground-rule double to left, scoring Davis and Santana for a 2-0 lead.