Teoscar Hernández hits tiebreaking homer in 8th inning and Dodgers beat Pirates 8-4

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Teoscar Hernández lined a tiebreaking homer to left field to lead off the eighth inning, Shohei Ohtani had a triple and two doubles, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-4 on Saturday night to snap a three-game skid.

After Hernández took Colin Holderman (0-1) deep, pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández followed with a three-run home run against Joey Wentz, the eighth pinch homer of his career.

The Pirates went ahead on 4-3 in the seventh on Bryan Reynolds’ RBI grounder. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half on Ohtani’s run-scoring double. Kirby Yates (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth.

Oneil Cruz smacked Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki’s first pitch of the game over the center-field wall for his eighth homer of the season.

In the bottom of the first, Ohtani doubled, Teoscar Hernández drove him in with a two-bagger and and Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier threw away Edman’s grounder for an error, allowing Hernández to score.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani tracks his triple during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Pittsburgh went ahead 3-2 in the fifth on Cruz’s 111 mph RBI single.

Ohtani hit a one-out triple to right in the bottom of the sixth and scored on Freddie Freeman’s two-out single.

Key moment

With runners on second and third and two outs in seventh, Dodgers first baseman Freeman made a backhand diving stop of Emmanuel Valdez’s grounder and threw from his knees to reliever Evan Phillips for the out.

Key stat

Los Angeles Dodgers fans applaud after starting pitcher Roki Sasaki is being substituted during the sixth inning of a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Ohtani, whose wife, Mamiko Tanaka, gave birth to a girl on April 19, had been 2 for 16 with six strikeouts during his first four games back from paternity leave before breaking out of the slump Saturday night.

Up next

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 3.71 ERA) will start the series finale for the Dodgers. Left-hander Bailey Falter (1-2, 5.19 ERA) will pitch for the Pirates.