Photo: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the most modest teams in the Major Leagues, in Los Angeles did what many would have considered impossible: defeat the Dodgers in each of the three games of their series at Dodger Stadium.
This Wednesday, the Pirates beat the Dodgers 8-4 led by two big hits from Dominican rookie Rodolfo Castro, who entered the game in the final innings, and thus Pittsburgh managed to complete the three-game sweep against which It is considered the strongest team in the National League and perhaps in all of MLB.
The Pirates hadn’t completed a sweep of Los Angeles since 1200, and in fact no one had cleaned out the Dodgers at their ballpark in a three-game series since 2018, when the St. Louis Cardinals did it.
Castro hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning hitting as a righty and a two-run single in the ninth hitting left to seal the road victory.
The buccaneers had won 6-5 on Monday and 5-3 on Tuesday, games in which did damage against two of the best pitchers in the Major League : Walker Buehler and Julio Urias.
To the Mexican Urías, who has been harmed this season by poor offensive support of his team, the Pirates (22-27) they spoiled the night of her figure bobblehead, handed out to fans at the stadium.
Pittsburgh payroll is 18% of the Dodgers
Baseball games are not won by name or salary, but to better measure the kind of surprise this series has been, a brief look at the numbers.
The payroll of the 17 Pirates players is $35.5 million dollars, which constitutes just a 22% of the payroll of $197.2 million who have l The Dodgers, the most robust of the Major Leagues. Pittsburgh’s total payroll this year, including pending transactions, is $68.9 million dollars while that of LA is $259 million according to Spotrac.
But the Pirates were not intimidated and played excellent baseball: tight pitching, great defensive plays and timely hitting all three nights in Los Angeles. The Dodgers, who often display those qualities, were outplayed across the board.
An example was what happened on Wednesday in the seventh inning. With the score 3-2 in favor of Pittsburgh, the Dodgers put men on second and third with no outs. But Freddie Freeman was dominated on a grounder and then the Pirates had a spectacular double play when runner Gavin Lux was thrown out at the plate attempting to step on Trea Turner’s fly ball.
Perhaps the only cause for joy for the Dodgers is that Mookie Betts, who had a fantastic month of May, started June the same way and hit his home run 16 to consolidate as leader of the league.
The Dodgers, now branded as 33-17, they will try to change their luck against someone other than the Pirates, who in the campaign won five of their six matches . And the rival in turn is the New York Mets, who arrive at Dodger Stadium this Thursday with the best record on the circuit (33-17).