Pirates outlast Dodgers for 8-6 win

Jameson Taillon, Jared Hughes and Kyle Lobstein combined to allow six runs through the first 5.1 innings Friday night, but the Bucs' offense kept them in the game and the strong end of their bullpen sealed a win.

The Pirates jumped out to a big early lead, scoring four runs on a long series of hits against Nick Tepesch in the second. Taillon gave up consecutive doubles to Corey Seager and Justin Turner in the third, but Jung Ho Kang gave the Pirates a four-run lead again with a solo shot inside the left-field foul pole in the third, his 11th homer of the year.

Taillon ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing one run and leaving two men on before exiting with no outs. Hughes limited the damage, allowing only a sacrifice fly, and the Pirates widened their lead to 7-4 when Matt Joyce blooped a key RBI single and Sean Rodriguez brought home a run with a sacrifice fly of his own.

Hughes struggled the following inning, giving up a solo homer to Yasiel Puig. He also allowed a single to Scott Van Slyke, who ultimately scored later in the inning. That was it, though, as Joyce tacked on a run with a solo homer in the seventh and Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon combined for 3.2 scoreless innings.

This was, by the way, a nice day for the Pirates' offense, and in particular for Joyce, who continued his huge season by finishing a triple short of the cycle. It did, however, come at the expense of a mostly weak group of Dodgers pitchers. The rest of this weekend, the Bucs will face Kenta Maeda and Clayton Kershaw, so they won't have it this easy.