Pirates Pummel Dodgers, 11-3, in Series Finale

Josh Reddick has not enjoyed his moment under the sun.

The Dodgers new right fielder dropped his second fly ball because of the brightest star, and Los Angeles lost the rubber match to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-3, on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

The bright rays over L.A. powered the Pirates as Jordy Mercer, Sean Rodriguez and Jung Ho Kang all homered, but it was the unclouded sun that blinded the Dodgers for the second straight day.

"There's been two in the last few days. He's been around for six years and has been around the sun, but I know Josh is a good defender," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts said of Reddick's trouble with the sun. "Sometimes the sun just happens to get right in that spot."

The Dodgers trailed 6-2, in the top of the fifth inning when Josh Harrison hit a routine pop to right field for what should have been the final out of the inning. Instead, Reddick lost the ball in the sun for the second straight day and Harrison had himself an RBI double.

"Day games with the yellow seats make it tough to see," centerfielder Joc Pederson said of the "sun double." "If you're not used to it, there's a lot of times where you don't know where the ball is going to be, not even off the bat. It's tough."

Pederson did his part, sending a ball into the right field seats in the fourth inning for a solo shot, his 18^th of the season, but the Dodgers couldn't bounce back from a rough first inning by Brett Anderson.

Anderson (0-1) came off the 60-day disabled list and made his 2016 season debut on Sunday, but was bludgeoned by the Bucs bats right out of the gate.

"Except for the rockets being hit, I was happy to be back on the mound for a big league game," Anderson said of his return. "Anytime you get on a mound and face hitters you want to succeed. That didn't work out today, but fingers crossed I can start doing that going forward."

After a leadoff single, Jordy Mercer hit a two-run bomb to dead centerfield that gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead before Anderson had even recorded an out.

"Up until the dive, it was obviously going terrible," Anderson said of the game's start. "But I was at least out there participating."

There was no participation trophy for Anderson as five batters later, with runners on first and second, Sean Rodriguez sent the left-hander deep for a three-run home run and before you could say "Welcome Back, Brett Anderson," the Dodgers trailed 5-0.

"It seemed like a nightmare that you hopefully wake up from," Anderson added. "But eventually it's going to work out."

Anderson did not head back to the mound in the second inning, as he left the game for precautionary reasons with left-wrist irritation after fielding a groundball that deflected off his hand.

"I dove and landed on my wrist weird and it kinda stiffended up," Anderson said of his injury. "It sucks. I think I should be fine moving forward. There's no broken bones or tears or anything, so hopefully we flush the inflamation out and get back out there."

Rookie Brock Stewart took over for Anderson, allowing one run on two hits in three innings of relief as the Dodgers burned through their bullpen for the second straight day.

"This was probably the worst first start back. It feels like I was snake bit," Anderson said. "It sucks. To put our bullpen in that situation after McCarthy yesterday. It's embarassing on my part."

Pittsburgh counterpart, Chad Kuhl, remained undefeated as a Major League starter allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts in six strong innings of work.

Kuhl (3-0), made his MLB debut against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw in Pittsburgh on June 26^th and has stayed hot ever since, outpitching Anderson on Sunday.

The Dodgers added a run on a balk in the bottom of the seventh inning called on Pirates' reliever Antonio Bastardo, but Pittsburgh tacked on four more in the ninth thanks to a home run by Kang.

Los Angeles continued their parroting of their rivals as the chase the Giants in the National League West. San Francisco blew a six-run lead in their 8-7 loss to the Orioles, leaving the Dodgers one-game behind first place.

Players of the Game:

Sean Rodriguez: 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and 4 RBI.
Joc Pederson: Solo home run.
Jordy Mercer: Two-run home run. 

Three Takeaways:

1. Colt 45: After allowing five runs in the first inning, Brett Anderson now has an ERA of 45.00. Sunday was Anderson's first Major League start since Game 3 of the NLDS against the Mets when he allowed six runs in three innings in a loss.

Anderson leaves with an ERA of 45.00 and Brock Stewart enters with an ERA of 14.00 — ThinkBlueLA (@Think_BlueLA) August 14, 2016

2. Sun Burned: For the second straight game, Josh Reddick lost a ball in the sun in right field for the Dodgers. On Saturday, it did not cost the team any runs. On Sunday, it allowed an insurance run to cross the plate for the Pirates.

Josh Reddick fought the sun … and the sun won: https://t.co/5HMWlj37nN pic.twitter.com/jqgQoQvU8x — Cut4 (@Cut4) August 14, 2016

3. Showtime: The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated the 57^th birthday of owner Earvin "Magic" Johnson before the game. Magic threw out the first pitch and the team brought a huge cake onto the field as fans sang "Happy Birthday" to the L.A. Lakers legend. All fans in attendance also received a Magic Johnson bobblehead gnome.

Happy birthday, @MagicJohnson! pic.twitter.com/RRLe4oJskl — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 14, 2016 

Up Next:

Pirates (59-56): Pittsburgh heads north to San Francisco for a three-game series with the Giants.

Dodgers (65-52): L.A. has an off day on Monday before an east coast road trip that starts in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Kenta Maeda makes the start at 4:05 PM PST.