Dodgers beat Pirates as NL West race remains tight

LOS ANGELES — If the Dodgers woke Friday morning to the realization that they were in a playoff race, they responded well.

While the Dodgers were resting and relaxing on the off day Thursday, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks kept creeping up on them. By the time they reported for work Friday afternoon, the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West was down to 2½ games over the San Diego Padres and 3½ over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It is as closely packed as the NL West has been since April 25 thanks to second-half surges by the Padres and Diamondbacks. After both won again Friday night (each in their last at-bat), the Padres are 15-3 since the All-Star break, the Diamondbacks 15-5 – the best records in baseball since the midsummer pause.

The Dodgers have spent that time treading water, waiting for their reinforcements to arrive from the injured list, and won just four of 11 games before Friday. But they got home runs from Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Kiké Hernandez in a 9-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that allowed them to hold serve in the division.

“We’re very aware of it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’d be lying if I said that no one’s watching the scoreboard and appreciating how good the rest of the teams in our division are playing, so that just puts the onus on us to play good baseball. So I think that we do have a very good mind to go out there and take care of business, win baseball games, but we’re certainly aware of it.”

They have become more aware of it as their lead in the division dwindled from 8 1/2 games just two weeks ago.

“I think we all know they’re playing good baseball. I don’t think that surprises anybody in here,” Freddie Freeman said. “I think we all knew it was going to be a good division, a good race throughout the year.

“If we’re worrying about other teams in the first 10 days of August, we’re not doing the right thing. We need to worry about ourselves, getting some guys back in the next week and a half, playing some better baseball then see where we’re at in five, six weeks.”

Friday’s game was billed as Jack Flaherty’s home debut with the team he grew up rooting for. His mother posted photos on social media of young Jack in Dodgers gear, sitting in the Dodger Stadium crowd.

It wasn’t all he dreamed it would be.

Flaherty did get the Pirates to flail-and-miss at 19 of his pitches and struck out 10. But he also gave up a solo home run to O’Neil Cruz in the fourth inning and a three-run home run to Joey Bart in the fifth before leaving with two runners on in the sixth.

“I don’t really know if there are words for it,” said Flaherty of his Dodgers home debut with a large group of family and friends on hand.

Though he failed to get through the sixth inning, he still received a standing ovation as he left the field.

“I was still (upset) that I gave up the hit and I didn’t finish the inning,” he said. “It was awesome, it’s a special, special feeling just being from here and getting that moment there. Yeah, all-around special.”

The four runs in 5⅔ innings were the most Flaherty had allowed since a June 27 start for the Detroit Tigers (after which he missed a start with a back issue). The nine hits he gave up matched his season-high (April  7, his second start of the season).

“There are still some things to clean up,” Flaherty said. “I wanted to get through that sixth and be a little more efficient, but to do that, in the fourth and fifth, I have to be a little bit better. They hit some tough pitches, but leaving that slider over the middle of the plate to Bart, he did what he was supposed to do with it.

“There are still some things to clean up and try to get deeper into the game and continue to help this team out.”

The Dodgers helped him out by scoring six times in the first three innings and kept a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

Freeman’s solo home run in the first inning started the scoring. He later added a double, a walk and a stolen base. Since rejoining the Dodgers after missing eight games while his son was hospitalized with an illness, Freeman has gone 6 for 15 with two doubles, the home run and four RBIs.

“You never know (how you’re going to do) after pretty much 10 days off from live pitching,” Freeman said. “I was moving. I hit a few times. I’ve been actually seeing the ball okay.

“Hopefully we just keep it going and not really worry about it. Yeah, I didn’t really know how I was going to do when I first came back after not seeing live pitching. But fortunately I’ve been seeing the ball okay and hitting the balls when they’re strikes right now.”

Ohtani’s home run was part of a five-run third inning. It left the bat at 113.9 mph with the sound of a shotgun discharge, disappearing into the night and traveling an estimated 448 feet. His 35th home run of the season followed a 2-for-16 nap by Ohtani.

“There was that little stint where he was chasing and he was striking out,” Roberts said. “But, he didn’t strike out in the Philly series, and he’s swinging at strikes. And when it’s in that hitting zone, man, he does things with the baseball that no one else can do. He just continues to amaze.”

Will Smith’s bat has been snoozing far longer but he checked his swing and dunked a two-run single into right field. Still, Smith ended the day with just four hits in his past 46 at-bats (.087) and a .199 average since the start of May.

Teoscar Hernandez added his 31st two-out RBI with a single in the fourth and Kiké Hernandez fought back from an 0-and-2 count with two outs in the fifth inning and ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a two-run home run – a line drive that got an assist from left fielder Bryan Reynolds’ glove on its way into the stands.