Young pitchers face off again for Pirates, Dodgers

For the second consecutive game Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers will turn to starting pitchers who are trying to find their way in the major leagues

If it goes anything like Tuesday, expect plenty of runs.

Rookie right-handers Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 4.74 ERA) of the visiting Pirates and Bobby Miller (4-1, 4.23) of the Dodgers will square off with a combined 57 1/3 career innings between them. To put that into perspective, MLB innings leader Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants heads into play Wednesday with 117 innings this season alone

When adding the innings of rookies Luis Ortiz of the Pirates and Emmet Sheehan of the Dodgers, who opposed each other Tuesday, the foursome barely has more combined career innings than Webb

Neither Ortiz nor Sheehan did all that well in the second game of the series as the Pirates pulled off a 9-7 victory with three runs in the ninth inning

Pinch-hitter Josh Palacios hit a go-ahead two-run double in the ninth inning for the Pirates while rookie Nick Gonzales had three hits for his third consecutive multi-hit game. Pittsburgh right-hander David Bednar recorded the final five outs to earn the win on the day he was named as an injury replacement for the Dodgers‘ Clayton Kershaw on the National League All-Star team

“This is beyond all of my wildest dreams. I’m so blessed to have this opportunity,” said Bednar, who has a 1.36 ERA and 16 saves. “I’ve just been putting my head down and grinding. Whenever things like this come up, it’s really special and it takes you back for a second.”

Bido’s most recent start for the Pirates, the fourth of his career, came Friday when he was tagged for four runs on four hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings of a no-decision against the Milwaukee Brewers. He had given up six runs over his first three starts

Bido, who has never faced the Dodgers, will be making his third road start and first start on the West Coast

In Miller, the Dodgers have one of the hardest throwers in baseball, and he showed how good he can be when he had a 0.78 ERA through his first four starts. His three most recent starts have not been as dynamic, posting a 9.39 ERA in 15 1/3 innings

Miller was much improved Friday against the Kansas City Royals when he gave up three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. Now comes his first career start against the Pirates

“I feel like the line was a little better than I actually pitched,” Miller said about facing the Royals. “Still wasn’t super happy about it, but you know, it’s a win. I gotta take that (and) I gotta be happy about it.

“I still gotta get better out of the stretch. Wind up, I feel really good. Then two-strike pitches — 0-2, 1-2 — put-away pitches weren’t really there. I left some of the offspeed up in the zone.”

The Dodgers hoped that pitchers like Miller, Sheehan and fellow rookie Michael Grove ultimately could get back to Triple-A Oklahoma City to continue their development. But one or two of them will have to stay after Los Angeles starter Dustin May (elbow) was ruled out for the season and Kershaw (shoulder) went on the injured list

The Dodgers lost Tuesday despite two home runs from rookie James Outman, one from rookie Jonny Deluca and one from Mookie Betts. It was Deluca’s first career homer

–Field Level Media