Pirates Fall In 15-1 Rout By Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (KDKA/AP) -- It was another long day for the Pirates on Sunday as their four-game series in Los Angeles came to an end with a tough 15-1 defeat.
For the Dodgers, James Loney had five hits with three RBIs, while Jerry Sands and Juan Rivera each drove in four runs in the rout.
The Dodgers' run total tied a season high and equaled the most the Pirates have allowed.
Loney recorded his first five-hit game and Sands had a homer among his four hits, leading a 23-hit attack against eight Pittsburgh pitchers.
Matt Kemp had three hits, including his 34th homer, and drove in two runs.
Chad Billingsley (11-10) allowed a run and four hits over five innings and struck out five.
The right-hander was staked to an 11-0 lead through the first three innings and breezed to his first victory in eight starts since beating Arizona on Aug. 5.
After consecutive games in which Pirates starters Jeff Locke and James McDonald each pitched three innings and allowed a combined total of eight runs, Brad Lincoln (1-3) lasted only 1 1-3 innings and was charged with six runs on eight hits - three of which were sharp singles through the box.
The 26-year-old left-hander, making his seventh start for the Pirates this season, gave up hits to five of his first seven batters and threw 33 pitches in the first as the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead.
Dee Gordon led off with a triple and scored on Jamey Carroll's groundout. Kemp homered to center field on the first pitch, and Sands capped the rally with an RBI single.
The Dodgers increased the margin to 9-0 in the second. Kemp hit a two-out RBI single that raised his career-high total to 113.
Rivera chased Lincoln with another single, and Loney greeted Aaron Thompson with a drive just beyond the reach of center fielder Andrew McCutchen, scoring Kemp and Rivera. Two batters later, Sands hit a first-pitch homer into the left-field pavilion.
Rivera made it 11-0 in the third with a two-run single against Chris Leroux, one of 18 pitchers the Pirates are carrying on their expanded roster.
Two more runs scored on a routine flyball by Rivera that fell for a double between center fielder Alex Presley and right fielder Xavier Paul, each of whom thought the other was going to catch it.
The Pirates' run came on Paul's RBI double in the fifth.
Up next, the Pirates head to Arizona for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks starting on Monday at 9:40 p.m.
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