All the Dodgers needed was to get Pirates ace Paul Skenes out of the game. After being held to two runs in six innings by the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, the Dodgers scored 10 runs in the seventh inning to decisively break a 2-2 tie and roll to a 12-3 victory on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park. The Dodgers had not scored that many runs in an inning since June 2, 2021, when they dropped an 11-spot on the Nationals. The big seventh inning also included first baseman Freddie Freeman’s 2,500th career hit. The milestone came on an RBI single to center field off rookie Brandan Bidois that capped the scoring. The Dodgers sent 15 batters to the plate and forced three Pirates relievers to throw 68 pitches during the 39-minute half-inning. “I think our guys were just very patient in that inning,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see those pitchers coming in there, and they were having a hard time throwing strikes, and we were just taking what we could get and weren’t trying to force the issue. We had some good takes, took some walks and threw a couple of big hits in there.” The first run in the inning came when Dalton Rushing scored on catcher Henry Davis’ throwing error. Davis hit Rushing in the back while trying to pick him off third base. Shohei Ohtani then hit an RBI double and scored on Andy Pages’ 15th home run as the Dodgers pushed their lead to 5-2. A throwing error by second baseman Brandon Lowe let in a run, Ryan Ward hit an RBI single, Alex Freeland and Ohtani drew consecutive bases-loaded walks and Pages lofted a sacrifice fly before Freeman made it 12-2.
