Pirates get to Hyun-Jin Ryu, but Dodgers pound Joe Musgrove in 7-2 L.A. win

The Pittsburgh Pirates hit Hyun-Jin Ryu better, harder and more often than anyone had hit the veteran left-hander this season.

Unfortunately for them, the Los Angeles Dodgers hit Joe Musgrove more.

The Dodgers pounded seven extra-base hits and 10 hits overall over five innings against Musgrove, and they extended their winning streak against the Pirates to nine with a 7-2 victory Saturday night.

“When Joe gives up 10 hits in five innings it’s pretty much telling you the story,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s making mistakes within the strike zone.”

Joe Musgrove postgame pic.twitter.com/pwofzef87C

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 26, 2019

Five of the eight position players in the Los Angeles lineup had two hits. Seven had at least one double. Included among each of those categories was early-season MVP candidate Cody Bellinger, who twice had RBI hits — the second of which was a double roped to right with a 106.8 mph exit velocity.

The only ball hit harder all night was from fellow NL MVP frontrunner Josh Bell of the Pirates, who scored after striking a 112.1 mph double in the second and went 2 for 4. That run was the first one allowed by Ryu in 32 innings, the 11th-longest streak in Dodgers history.

The game’s start was delayed by 108 minutes because of rain.

The Pirates got to Ryu for as many runs (two) and more hits (10) as he had allowed in any game all season. Ryu (7-1) had allowed 10 combined hits over his previous three starts and one run over his past four starts combined.

“We pushed a guy that nobody’s pushed for a while,” Hurdle said. “Nine hits through the first five innings, a couple runs, and where we got in the lineup a couple times, we weren’t able to add on. We did have some hard outs as well.”

The Pirates’ effort raised Ryu’s season ERA from 1.52 to 1.65. They could have tagged him much more, but a combination of missed opportunities and rotten luck in the form of hard-hit balls right at Los Angeles fielders did them in.

The Pirates stranded two runners in scoring position in the second, had a double play end a two-on, one-out threat in the third and failed to score after having runners at second and third with no outs in the fourth.

After a single by Kevin Newman and double by Elias Diaz opened that inning, three batters lined out.

The Pirates, who were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position against Ryu, also had their leadoff hitter aboard in the fifth and sixth innings but did not score.

Six of the 10 men who reached against Musgrove (3-5), though, scored. It snapped a two-start winning streak for Musgrove.

“I made good pitches tonight – just got good enough,” Musgrove said. “Inner-half, not inner-black. And trying to go away, I left the ball up a lot.

“As the game went on I started to elevate my stuff in the zone and that’s where the game just went.”

Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli pulled himself from the game as he was walking up to the plate in the fourth. He had been struck in the head by Joc Pederson’s backswing in the top of the inning and, the Pirates said later, was experiencing concussion-like symptoms.

Hurdle provided no update on Cervelli’s condition or prognosis. Cervelli had missed the previous three games because of an upper-chest contusion. If he ends up going on the injured list, it would be the MLB-most 22nd such trip from the Pirates this season — and the most for the club for any full season since at least 2000.

The Pirates have lost four of five and are on the verge of getting swept for the fourth time this season (and for the third straight time facing the Dodgers) Sunday.

“They’re one of the best teams in baseball; they are capable of beating you different ways,” Hurdle said.

“They can be pitched to – but we didn’t make enough pitches to them tonight in sequences to keep them down.”

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