Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen homer as Pirates shut out Dodgers to clinch series win

Just as the Pittsburgh Pirates were preaching about how no lead was safe against the star-studded lineup of the Los Angeles Dodgers, they did the unthinkable.

Four rookie pitchers combined to toss eight scoreless innings, and closer Dennis Santana finished off the shutout by striking out three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani to set off fireworks.

Behind home runs by Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates blanked the Dodgers, 3-0, on Wednesday night before 16,473 at PNC Park to clinch a series victory over the NL West leaders.

It was the MLB-leading 17th shutout win by the Pirates (63-77) and the eighth shutout loss this season for the Dodgers (78-61), who entered the game averaging 5.09 runs per game. The Pirates have a chance to sweep the series when Paul Skenes faces Blake Snell on Thursday night.

Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows (2-4) each tossed three scoreless innings, followed by lefty Evan Sisk in the seventh and righty Isaac Mattson in the eighth to set up Santana’s 13th save.

“That’s a really good lineup, obviously. It’s no secret,” Reynolds said. “We threw a bunch of rookies out there, worked through some jams and put up a zero. Impressive.”

Ohtani was scratched as the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and replaced by Emmet Sheehan (5-3), who allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six in 4 2/3 innings.

Ashcraft retired the top of the Dodgers order on 11 pitches in the first inning. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Reynolds fouled off six two-strike pitches before sending Sheehan’s 12th offering, a fastball low and inside, 404 feet to right field for his 15th home run.

“I’ll take a homer, one pitch or 12 pitches,” Reynolds said. “When you have an at-bat that long, you don’t want to get out. So it felt good to drive that ball.”

The first five Dodgers batters took Ashcraft to a full count in the second, which Freddie Freeman started with a single and Teoscar Hernandez and Alex Call drew walks to load the bases. But Ashcraft got Andy Pages to chase a slider away for a strikeout, got Alex Freeland looking at a called third strike for another and Kike Hernandez to fly out to right to escape.

“To be able to get out of that without a run scoring was really impressive,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “The fastball command wasn’t there, didn’t seem to have the command of anything in particular in the middle of that inning. And for him to be able to get bases loaded, dial it back in and work through it, it was incredible.”

McCutchen led off the bottom of the second by smacking Sheehan’s 2-2 fastball 408 feet to left field for his 13th home run to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

“It’s always great to hit a home run, and to be able to do it at home is even better,” said McCutchen, who has four homers at PNC Park this season. “Bryan, he set the tone for us with the 12-pitch at-bat and starting off the game how he did, put a good swing on the ball and hit it out. I was able to follow up, follow in and put a good swing on the ball, too. It felt good. Wish I could do it more than once, but I’ll take the one.”

Ashcraft loaded the bases again in the third, when pinch hitter Dalton Rushing hit a two-out single to right and Freeman and Hernandez drew back-to-back walks. This time, Ashcraft got Call to ground out to catcher Joey Bart.

Burrows replaced Ashcraft in the fourth and tossed another three scoreless innings, despite a Dodgers threat in the fifth. Ohtani led off with a double to center, and Mookie Betts followed with a walk but Burrows got Dalton Rushing to line out to right and Freeman to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the frame.

The Pirates padded their lead in the sixth, when Nick Gonzales singled and scored on Bart’s double off the Clemente Wall to make it 3-0.

The Dodgers didn’t score against Ashcraft or Burrows. They didn’t score against Sisk, who gave up a single to Ohtani and a walk to Rushing but got Freeman to fly out to right to end the top of the seventh. They didn’t score against Mattson, who retired the side in order in the eighth.

Santana retired a pair of pinch hitters, getting Hyseong Kim to fly out to center and striking out Michael Conforto, before getting Ohtani swinging on a slider to record his 13th save.

“I don’t think any of us felt like it was ever enough to win the game,” McCutchen said. “Soon as you let up, that’s mistake No. 1. I think that’s why we were able to win how we did today. No one in that dugout ever felt like they were safe, no lead was safe. Just show up the next inning, put a zero up and do our best when we get in the box. That’s what we were doing through the whole game.”