Andrew McCutchen gets the better of Kenta Maeda in Pirates’ 6-1 win over Dodgers

The residue from the fireworks was drifting toward the Allegheny River when Dave Roberts left the Dodgers dugout. He came to fetch his starting pitcher, one batter too late, in the sixth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Pirates. He came to remove Kenta Maeda, who could not solve Pittsburgh star Andrew McCutchen, the reason for the smoke over the water.

McCutchen swatted a pair of home runs, the second a game-deciding, three-run shot, to spoil an otherwise exemplary effort from Maeda. Maeda continued the starting rotation’s streak of forcing the bullpen into extended duty. After Maeda exited, Joe Blanton gave up a two-run home run in the same frame to shortstop Jordy Mercer.

“Tonight was one of those nights where I expected to win a close one,” Roberts said. “When you fall behind so much, maybe you lose your focus a little bit.”

Down five runs, Roberts watched his offense continue a frightful pattern of its own. The group could not place a runner on base in the first five innings against Pirates starter Jeff Locke. In the final four innings, the Dodgers left six men on base. After putting two runners in scoring position to start the eighth, the team watched the rally fizzle thanks to three consecutive strikeouts.

Winners of six in a row at Dodger Stadium before this weekend, the Dodgers (41-35) have lost the first two games of this series. The group hopes Clayton Kershaw can end the brief losing streak on Sunday night. Maeda cruised through five innings before his night turned sour.

“My job is to go deep into the game and give the team the best shot to win,” Maeda said. “Yes, it is frustrating to not be able to do the job.”

Neither team recorded a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning. The first bit of offense arrived in forceful fashion for the Pirates. In a three-ball count to McCutchen, Maeda doubled up on sliders. McCutchen swung through one. He fouled back another. He did not miss a 3-2 curveball.

The pitch hung over the middle of the plate. McCutchen shipped it deep into the left-field seats.

Locke carried a 5.44 earned-run average into the game.

The Dodgers found no answer for his arsenal during the first five innings. Locke did not blaze fastballs past his guests or fool them with off-speed pitches. He struck out only one en route to a collective 15 outs. Instead he relied upon weak contact, as his defenders gobbled up grounders and settled beneath popups.

The farce ended in the sixth. Scott Van Slyke raked a low changeup down the third base line for a leadoff double. Up came A.J. Ellis. Locke fed him a 2-1 changeup at the belt. Ellis stayed back on the baseball and drove a game-tying double off the wall in right.

With Maeda up, the Dodgers tried to advance Ellis to third. The gambit failed when Maeda passed on trying to knock down a high fastball, and Ellis got caught drifting too far from second base. The sting only increased when Maeda cracked a single to right. After the game, Ellis would wonder whether the time on the bases affected Maeda on the mound in the bottom of the inning.

Maeda could not protect the tie. He said later he felt like he was rushing on the mound, unable to find the proper pace. He walked first baseman John Jaso to open the sixth. He gave up a single to outfielder Starling Marte. Maeda fell behind McCutchen in the count, 3-0, which forced him to throw fastballs in the zone. McCutchen turned on a 91-mph offering over the middle.

“Kenta’s a strike thrower,” Ellis said. “He wanted to challenge him, and make him earn his way on. And he did.”

And so out went Maeda and in came Blanton. He walked outfielder Matt Joyce on four pitches. Blanton became frustrated with a series of marginal calls from umpire Ron Kulpa, who refused to grant him the outer edge against Mercer. After Mercer hit deep, Blanton erupted in his dugout.

“I was just mad how the inning played out,” Blanton said. “That happens sometimes. It just didn’t play out the way I planned it.”

Follow Andy McCullough on Twitter @McCulloughTimes