Adrian Gonzalez

Curtis Granderson's Slam Leads Dodgers Over Pirates, 6-5 in Extra Innings

Curtis Granderson, hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, and Yasiel Puig hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th, as the Los Angeles came back to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5, in extra innings on Monday night at PNC Park.

Just call it a Grandyslam.

Curtis Granderson, hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, and Yasiel Puig hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th, as the Los Angeles Dodgers came back to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5, in extra innings on Monday night at PNC Park.

The Bucs got on the board first in the second inning when Jose Osuna and Sean Rodriguez went back-to-back off Alex Wood to put Pittsburgh in front, 2-0.

An inning later it was Josh Harrison's turn to take Alex Wood deep as he turned on an 84 MPH changeup to dead center to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

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Pirates' ace Gerrit Cole cruised through the first six innings before he finally ran into trouble in the top of the seventh.

Four of the first five batters reached base off Cole to load the bases for Granderson, who was acquired from the New York Mets late on Friday night.

Granderson made sure to make his second home run in a Dodger uniform memorable as he sent an 89 MPH slider from Cole into the seats in right-center field to give L.A. the lead.

"He's a tough opponent," Granderson told Alanna Rizzo of Cole. "Everytime I face him it's always a battle. We were finally able to get some runners on in that situation and he just made one mistake I was able to capitalize on."

Granderson became the first player in MLB history to hit two separate grand slams with two different teams in a four-game span.

"That's what he does," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts told reporters of Granderson. "He gets big hits. We've seen that from the other side for years. The grand slam was huge."

Cole left as the losing pitcher, but ultimately did not factor in the decision, allowing five runs on eight hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in 6 and 1/3 innings of work.

Wood also did not factor in the decision, allowing three runs on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts in six innings.

"I battled through tonight," Wood told reporters after the game. "Osuna hit a decent fastball, but the two changes up were just bad pitches and they made me pay. But we hung in there and got the win tonight."

Yasiel Puig continued to add highlights to his Gold Glove case this season as he made a fantastic leaping catch at the wall to takeaway extra bases away from Andrew McCutchen.

Former Pirate, Tony Watson, came out of the bullpen to face his old team for the first time since he was acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline.

Watson was drafted by the Pirates in 2007 and has the most relief appearances in PNC Park history.

Watson hit Adam Frazier to start the inning before strikeout Starling Marte for the first out of the eighth.

Watson would exit the game for Pedro Baez who promptly allowed an RBI double to Josh Harrison before walking three batters and allowing the tying run to score on a groundball fielder's choice.

"Petey [Baez] wasn't as sharp as he normally is," said Roberts, stating the obvious. "Other than that I thought our bullpen did a good job."

The game would head to extra innings where each team would take turns throwing three scoreless frames before Yasiel Puig put the Dodgers back in front with one swing in the 12th. 

Puig sent a 1-0 slider from Dovydas Neverauskas (say that three times fast) to center field for the game-winning home run.

"The eclipse only happens every 100 years, but my home runs are only every 40 at-bats or in between," said Puig through a translator when asked what was more exciting today, the solar eclipse or his game-winning homer. "So both were exciting."

Not only did the home run win the game, but it extended the Dodgers streak of consecutive wins when scoring four or more runs to 38.

The Dodgers improved to 25-10 (.714) after a loss, the third best winning percentage in MLB history since 1969. 

Up Next:

Brock Stewart is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City and will start on Tuesday opposite RHP Jameson Taillon. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05PM PST.

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