Andrew McCutchen hit two home runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates blasted the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Saturday night at PNC Park.
McCutchen hit a solo shot in the fourth and a three-run blast in the sixth to give the Bucs the lead after Pittsburgh ended Kenta Maeda's night on a rather somber note.
Maeda (6-5) was stellar for the first five innings, but was hit like a hurricane in the sixth when he issued a leadoff walk to John Jaso and a single to Starling Marte before surrendering the deathblow to McCutchen.
"That's what we do. We work at it every day," McCutchen told the media after the game. "You just hope that results will get there. It's not like I'm sitting around, hoping things change. "I'm going out there, trying to get things done and getting things turned over. Tonight was a good night."
LA was put in a vice-grip but Pirates' left-hander Jeff Locke who shut down the Dodgers offense all night. Locke had a perfect game going through the first five innings before he allowed back-to-back doubles to Scott Van Slyke and A.J. Ellis in the sixth inning.
Locke (7-5) allowed just one run on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks in seven strong innings.
His counterpart, didn't fare as well, allowing four runs on four hits with just four strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
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"I thought I did pretty well before the sixth inning," Maeda told reporters through a translator after the game. "I didn't start off well in the sixth, the walk, the base hit, and I couldn't control the damage."
Joe Blanton, normally a pillar of scoreless stability for the boys in blue, allowed a two-run bomb to shortstop Jordy Mercer that gave the Bucs the 6-1 victory.
Players of the Game:
Andrew McCutchen: 2-for-4 with two home runs and 4 RBI.
Jordy Mercer: Solo shot.
Jeff Locke: 1 run on 5 hits with 3 strikeouts in 7 IP.
Three Takeaways:
1. Pitch Perfect: Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Locke was perfect through the first five innings before a Scott Van Slyke double ended the left-hander's bid for immortality.
Perfect no more. Scott Van Slyke hits a double ending Jeff Locke's perfect game bid in the 6th. #LADvsPIT — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 26, 2016
2. Power Outage: The Los Angeles Dodgers streak of 14 consecutive games with a home run (the longest since 2001) came to an end.
#Dodgers have hit a home run in 14 consecutive games. Last homered in 15 straight from June 7-22, 1977. LA record is 17 games, set in 1960. — Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) June 25, 2016
3. All Good Things Come to an End: The Pittsburgh Pirates had a season-high 105 inning error-less streak snapped on Saturday. After nearly 12 straight games without an error, Sean Rodriguez made an errant throw to A.J. Schugel in the ninth inning.
Sean Rodriguez’s throwing error ends the Pirates’ streak of 105 errorless innings, their longest such streak since 2007. — Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) June 26, 2016
Up Next:
Dodgers (41-35): Clayton Kershaw takes the mound on Sunday for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball at 5:08 PM.
Pirates (36-39): 23-year-old rookie Chad Kuhl will make his MLB-debut against the three-time Cy Young Award winner at 5:08PM PST.
