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Dodgers beat Pirates, kick off homestand with Dave Roberts’ 700th win

July 4, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers limped home Monday on the heels of back-to-back losses to the woebegone Kansas City Royals, having lost their best pitcher to a shoulder injury earlier in the day.

A couple of big hits by outfielder David Peralta and a serviceable spot start from Michael Grove got them back on track. Max Muncy also hit his 18th home run of the season in the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before an announced crowd of 49,652 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers (47-37) delivered the 700th career win for Manager Dave Roberts.

Grove allowed one run over four innings, facing the Pirates’ starting lineup twice before turning the game over to the bullpen. With a little help from his defense, Grove delivered one of his best performances of the season.

Grove allowed a wall-banging double to Carlos Santana to begin the second inning. The Dodgers’ infielders drew closer to home plate with Santana at third base and one out. Shortstop Miguel Rojas devoured a grounder by Nick Gonzales and threw quickly to home plate, in time to cut down Santana and keep the game scoreless.

Grove did not help his own cause when he made an unwise throw to first base later in the inning, rather than holding on to a swinging-bunt ground ball halfway up the first-base line off the bat of Rodolfo Castro. When Grove’s throw eluded Freddie Freeman, Gonzales scampered all the way from first to third, then scored on a single by Jared Triolo.

The Dodgers rattled off five unanswered runs against right-hander Mitch Keller (9-4). Muncy broke open the scoring with his solo home run in the second inning. Later that inning, Peralta doubled and scored on a Jason Heyward grounder that got past Santana at first base.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Keller hit Miguel Vargas with a 93-mph sinker, then served up an RBI double to Rojas that gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

Freeman and Smith led off the fifth inning with a pair of singles, and another two-out rally led to two more runs. Peralta poked a single into left field to score Freeman. Heyward hit a soft line drive in Santana’s direction, but the first baseman simply missed it, allowing Smith to score.

The Dodgers’ bullpen had a fairly easy time protecting the 5-1 lead. Caleb Ferguson (5-3), Ryan Brasier, Daniel Hudson, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips allowed two hits and two walks while striking out five over the final five innings.

Peralta, Muncy and Rojas each had two of the Dodgers’ nine hits.

The Dodgers are sending three position players to the All-Star Game next Tuesday in Seattle. From May 1 through Sunday, Peralta had a higher batting average (.346) than Freddie Freeman (.327), a better on-base percentage (.387) than Mookie Betts (.383), and a higher slugging percentage (.508) than Will Smith (.476).

There’s an obvious caveat to Peralta’s success. As a part-time player, he rarely bats against left-handed pitchers. The Dodgers have effectively limited Peralta’s greatest weakness – he’s hitting .240 in his career against lefties – by never making him confront it. At 35, the extra time off might be beneficial to Peralta’s health.

Still, most pitchers throw with their right hand, giving Peralta plenty of chances to do damage. He did very little before May 1, when he was hitting .167 with one home run.

More to come on this story.

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