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Two three-run blasts by Garrett Jones helped pace the Pirates to a 10-6 victory over the Dodgers Thursday, giving the Pirates a much-needed win even though A.J. Burnett didn't have a particularly successful outing.
The first of those homers came in the first inning, when Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen got on base and Jones sent a Joe Blanton changeup deep to right.
The Pirates caught a break in the second. Matt Kemp, who had struck out the previous inning, got ejected after shouting from the dugout during Andre Ethier's at-bat. James Loney exacted at least some measure of revenge later that inning, with a solo home run.
The Dodgers took the lead in the top of the fourth. Mark Ellis doubled, then came home on a throwing error by Pedro Alvarez. Then Hanley Ramirez blasted a two-run homer to make it 4-3. Ramirez held his pose at the plate after the big swing, then made a little gesture toward the Dodgers' dugout while rounding second, as Burnett glared at him. Burnett got his revenge in the sixth, whiffing Ramirez and telling him to "sit the f*** down." (This is kind of funny, because I just learned from The Extra 2% of a similar moment in Rays history where Grant Balfour says the exact same thing, to Orlando Cabrera. NSFW Visual here.)
The Pirates tied the game in the bottom half, though, with an RBI triple by Clint Barmes, then jumped out to a big lead in the fifth, as Jordy Mercer and McCutchen singled and Jones hit yet another homer to right. Alvarez followed with a solo homer of his own to make it 8-4.
Burnett departed with two outs in a messy seventh inning. He allowed two straight singles, a hit by pitch, then an RBI single by Mark Ellis. He then hit Juan Rivera with the bases loaded to make it 8-6. Tony Watson got Ethier to ground out to end the threat.
The Pirates got insurance in the bottom of the inning thanks to Barmes' two-run single, and Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan were able to maintain the Pirates' four-run lead.
UPDATE: Here's the A.J. Burnett GIF:
