Yasiel Puig's HR in 12th inning carries Dodgers past Pirates

PITTSBURGH >> Curtis Granderson’s grand slam in the seventh inning gave the Dodgers a lead they squandered when the Pittsburgh Pirates scored twice in the eighth inning to tie the game. But Yasiel Puig’s solo home run leading off the 12th retrieved a 6-5 victory for the Dodgers on Monday night.

The win was only the second in the Dodgers’ past 10 games and fourth in their past 14 at PNC Park. The Dodgers have now won seven of their past eight, 22 of their past 26 and 53 of 63 since June 7.

Held to two hits over eight innings by Justin Verlander in Detroit on Sunday, the Dodgers managed only four hits in the first six innings against Gerrit Cole on Monday, coming up scoreless despite bases-loaded opportunities in the second and sixth.

That all changed in the seventh.

Chase Utley led off with a single. Logan Forsythe drew a walk and Utley scored on Corey Seager’s one-out RBI single.

A single by Justin Turner loaded the bases with Dodgers for the third time in seven innings. Despite the fact that Cole was tiring at 108 pitches – or maybe because they traded left-handed reliever Tony Watson to the Dodgers three weeks ago – Pirates manager Clint Hurdle left the right-handed Cole in to face the left-handed Granderson.

Cole fell behind 2-and-1 with three breaking balls. He left the fourth over the heart of the plate and Granderson drove it over the wall in right-center field for his second home run in the past two games.

The grand slam was the Dodgers’ eighth this season, the most in the majors and two short of matching the franchise record (10 in 2004). It was also Granderson’s second in the past five days. His last home run for the New York Mets came Thursday against the Yankees. According to Elias Sports, he is the first player in major-league history to hit two grand slams for different teams in a four-game span.

That seemed to salvage a game that had been in the Pirates’ hands since a three-home run barrage in a span of seven batters against Dodgers starter Alex Wood.

Jose Osuna and Sean Rodriguez hit back-to-back homers in the second inning and Josh Harrison hit his in the third.

After giving up only two home runs in his first 16 games and 86-2/3 innings this season, Wood has now given up eight in 36-2/3 innings over his past six starts. Coincidental or causal, Wood’s velocity remains off from where it was earlier this season. In 86 pitches Monday, Wood touched 92 mph just once, sitting at 90-91 mph. That is almost 2 mph down from where he was topping out in the first half of the season.

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But the Pirates rallied for two runs on just one hit in the eighth inning.

Watson hit pinch-hitter Adam Frazier with a pitch to start the inning then departed the scene after striking out Starling Marte.

Pedro Baez came in and spent the next five batters searching for the strike zone. He didn’t find it often. Only 13 of his 28 pitches were strikes as he walked three of the five batters and gave up an RBI double to Harrison. The Dodgers couldn’t turn a double play on Josh Bell’s bases-loaded grounder to Utley and the tying run scored.

The game stayed tied when the Dodgers stranded the bases loaded for a third time in the 10th inning. But Puig led off the 12th inning with a home run off Pirates reliever Dovydas Neverauskas.

More to come on this story.