The Pittsburgh Pirates rode a dominant outing from their pitching staff to a 3–0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at PNC Park on Wednesday night. Bryan Reynolds opened the scoring with a first-inning homer to right-center, and Andrew McCutchen followed with a solo shot in the second to give Pittsburgh a 2–0 cushion. Joey Bart added an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI double, and the Pirates steadily kept Los Angeles off the board through nine innings of play.
Rookie starter Braxton Ashcraft battled through 71 pitches and struck out four over three scoreless frames, even while loading the bases in both the second and third innings. He exited after the third, and relievers Mike Burrows, Evan Sisk, Isaac Mattson and Dennis Santana took over. Burrows logged three shutout innings, Sisk and Mattson each contributed a clean frame, and Santana closed out the ninth with his 13th save. The five-man effort marked Pittsburgh’s major-league leading 17th shutout of the season.
On offense, Reynolds’ 15th homer of the year and McCutchen’s 13th provided all the run support the Pirates needed. Bart finished with three hits, including the go-ahead double in the sixth, while Nick Gonzales scored from second base on that play. Pittsburgh totaled seven hits and left seven runners on base, but its timely swings proved decisive against a Dodgers club that stranded 10 runners and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
That 17th shutout not only leads all of baseball but also underscores how much the Pirates’ young arms have carried this team in 2025. Pittsburgh’s ability to blank an opponent so often has been a hallmark of Don Kelly’s tenure since taking over as manager in May, and it gives the Bucs a chance to build on a late-season surge at PNC Park.
Thursday’s series finale features a matchup of aces when right-hander Paul Skenes (9–9, 2.05 ERA) toes the rubber for the Pirates against lefty Blake Snell (3–3, 2.41 ERA) for the Dodgers. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. ET, as the Pirates go for the sweep against the mighty, more expensive Dodgers.
(photo courtesy of Baseball Prospectus)