Kyle Tucker hit a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning, Tarik Skubal had 11 strikeouts over seven innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a 4-3 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.
Teoscar Hernandez and Alek Thomas each had RBI singles for the Dodgers, who extended their winning streak to five games for their longest run since a six-game streak in May.
Skubal (8-7) gave up all three of his runs allowed in the first inning before recovering to earn his first win in four starts since joining the Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers just before the trade deadline. The left-hander’s 11 strikeouts were one off his season high.
Oneil Cruz had a two-run triple and Los Angeles-area native Jared Jones gave up two runs on three hits over four innings as the Pirates fell to 0-2 at the start of a nine-game road trip.
Pittsburgh went on the attack against Skubal early. Esmerlyn Valdez and Bryan Reynolds each had one-out singles in the first inning and Cruz followed with his two-run triple to right field. Rafael Flores Jr. added a run-scoring groundout to bring home Cruz for a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates got back-to-back singles from Nick Yorke and Jared Triolo to lead off the second, but a sacrifice bunt from Henry Davis started a run of 11 consecutive outs from Skubal.
The Dodgers pulled to within 3-2 in the fourth inning on RBI singles from Hernandez and Thomas. It was the Los Angeles debut for Thomas, who was recalled earlier Saturday after Andy Pages went down with a broken left hand Friday.
Tucker gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the fifth with his two-run single off right-hander Yohan Ramirez (6-4). It was the first hit in 27 home at-bats for the high-priced free-agent addition in the offseason.
Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer struck out Cruz with the tying run at third base in the eighth inning. Left-hander Tanner Scott pitched the ninth for his 19th save.
Pirates right-hander Camilo Doval was ejected after the sixth inning following an exchange of words with home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.