After taking the first two games of the series vs Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pirates went for the sweep with Bailey Falter on the mound opposite Walker Buehler.
Falter was riding an almost season long hot streak, pitching to a 2.54 ERA ever since allowing 5 runs and a grand slam in his season debut with the Pirates.
Opponents were batting just .190 against him with a collective OPS of .556 over that time, but that dominant streak came to an end against a high-powered Dodgers lineup that was pissed off about losing the series to the Pirates.
Falter was fighting for his life from the very beginning, when he gave up a single to Mookie Betts, and then gave up a nearly-caught single to Ohtani. It was originally ruled that Pirates right fielder Edward Olivares had successfully dove to make the catch, but upon a Dodgers challenge it was seen that the ball had actually touched the ground first.
On the next at bat, Freddie Freeman hit a three run homer to take an early 3-0 Dodgers lead.
The Dodgers would tack on a fourth as the full order got up to bat before the top of the first inning was over.
The Pirates, meanwhile, went three up and three down in an initial response, but eventually did battle back to tie the game at 4-4, thanks in part to a Nick Gonzales home run.
Neither starting pitcher lasted very long; Buehler went just 3.0 innings, with 3 of his 4 runs being earned. He was the victim of a Dodgers defense that looked just about as good as if I picked a group of strangers inside PNC Park and told them to get on the field.
Falter, meanwhile, only lasted 4.0 innings and was pulled after giving up a solo home run in Teoscar Hernandez in the fifth inning.
At the time of Falter’s departure, despite him being credited with the loss, the Pirates were only down one run, but the Pirate bullpen could not keep the team in this game.
Ben Heller was the main culprit of that, getting lit up in his Pirates debut after being called up on Tuesday. Heller had been very up and down in Triple-A with Indianapolis; he had terrific whiff and strikeout rates at Indy, but he suffered with the long ball, and was not far removed from a 4-game streak that saw him give up 5 homers.
It was unclear which version of Heller the Pirates would get, but sadly it was the latter. He was dinged for 5 earned runs in the fifth inning, including a three run homer surrendered to Mookie Betts.
With the game looking well out of reach starting in the sixth inning, the Pirates gave Kyle Nicolas a large workload.
Nicolas had only pitched once in the month of June, but was on the mound for 2.1 innings for Pittsburgh in this game. Nicolas had a rough sixth inning, and had it not been for Oneil Cruz it likely would have been a lot more than just one.
Nicolas had the bases loaded with no one out before Cruz turned a lineout into a double play to allow an Austin Barnes strikeout to end the innings.
Justin Bruihl came on with one out in the eighth in relief of Nicolas, and he was one of the few relievers who actually looked solid for the Pirates. The man who was signed as a free agent today and added to the big league roster made a good first impression in Pittsburgh.
Cruz would make the game a little interesting when he smacked a three run homer into the Allegheny to cut LA’s lead to 11-7, and Carmen Mlodzinski pitched a two-walk, scoreless ninth inning to set up one last gasp at a rally in Pittsburgh.
Alas, it was not to be. Pinch hit strikeouts by Connor Joe and Jared Triolo helped kill the inning as the Pirates went down in order to hand LA the series finale win.
Of note, the much maligned Rowdy Tellez actually had a really good game. He went 2-for-4 with a double, and after his first at-bat was able to go the rest of the game un-booed by the crowd.
A series sweep of the Dodgers was very unlikely. A team that can throw that much money on the field is going to break through eventually, but taking the series from this team is no small accomplishment.
Seeing the team tally 7 runs against this team is also no small accomplishment, and despite the loss, this series should be a real momentum boost for the Pirates.
They are not far out of a wild card spot, and while getting a hold of that spot and keeping it is unlikely, this team is still very much in the running. They need to take a lot from this series and keep pushing forward.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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