McCutchen, Mercer Power Pirates Past Dodgers, 5-1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer homered to lead newcomer Ivan Nova and the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Friday night.

Handed a three-run lead before he threw a pitch, Nova (2-0) has won both starts for the Pirates since they acquired him from the New York Yankees at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The right-hander scattered nine hits over 5 1/3 innings in his first outing against the Dodgers and improved to 9-6 overall this season.

Twice he struck out Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling to end a rally. Los Angeles remained one game behind the first-place Giants in the NL West. San Francisco lost 5-2 to Baltimore.

Pittsburgh opened a six-game West Coast swing and moved within one game of Miami for the second NL wild card.

Nova was replaced by Antonio Bastardo, who got the final two outs in the sixth. Felipe Rivero, Neftali Feliz, Juan Nicasio and Tony Watson followed and shut down Los Angeles as Pittsburgh's bullpen continued its outstanding pitching.

Watson came on with runners at the corners and retired Corey Seager for his fifth save.

Dating to June 23, the Pirates' bullpen has posted the lowest ERA (2.13) and the best winning percentage 11-2 (.846) of any major league team.

Stripling (3-4) started in place of Rich Hill, who remained on the disabled list with a middle finger blister on his pitching hand. After a rough first inning, Stripling retired 17 of 19 hitters but gave up five runs, including solo homers to McCutchen and Mercer.

McCutchen also made an outstanding, over-the-shoulder catch near the warning track in left-center in the second inning to take an extra-base hit away from Yasmani Grandal.

Los Angeles outfielder Josh Reddick robbed Josh Harrison of a home run when he reached over the low right-field wall to catch Harrison's drive.

Pittsburgh, which had lost eight of 10 road games, extended its recent dominance of the Dodgers. The Pirates have beaten Los Angeles in four of five games this season and improved their record to 14-4 against the Dodgers since the beginning of the 2014 season.

Pittsburgh jumped on Stripling for four hits and three runs in the first.

McCutchen and David Freese stroked RBI singles, and Mercer's RBI fielder's choice made it 3-0.

Howie Kendrick's two-out RBI single in the second cut the lead to 3-1. Kendrick finished with three hits.

McCutchen continued his torrid hitting at Dodger Stadium with a third-inning solo shot, his 16th of the season. In his last seven games at Dodger Stadium, the slugger is 8 for 16 with four doubles and two home runs.

Mercer led off the seventh with his seventh homer of the season, upping Pittsburgh's lead to 5-1.

HOCKEY NIGHT AT CHAVEZ RAVINE

Los Angeles Kings players Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Brayden McNabb and Tyler Toffoli threw out the ceremonial first pitches.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Pirates: Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli is day to day after leaving Wednesday's game after four innings with left wrist discomfort. ... C Chris Stewart, on the DL since July 2 with left knee discomfort, is expected to begin a rehab assignment Friday with Double-A Altoona.

Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw, on the 60-day DL with a mild disk herniation, is scheduled to play catch Saturday. No target date has been set for his return. ... RHP Joe Blanton was reinstated from the bereavement list, and the Dodgers optioned LHP Luis Avilan to Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... The Dodgers plan to activate LHP Brett Anderson (herniated disk surgery) off the DL in time to start Sunday's series finale.

CHARLIE HUSTLE

Dodgers 2B Chase Utley has 409 plate appearances this season without grounding into a double play, the most of any big leaguer. According to STATS, only one Dodgers player has completed an entire season with more plate appearances than Utley without a GIDP (current manager Dave Roberts in 2003, with 440 plate appearances).

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-7) pitches Saturday. His last time out, Cole gave up four hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings and lost 7-3 to the Reds. He is 3-0 against the Dodgers in four career starts.

Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-2) felt healthy during workouts this week and is expected to pitch Saturday. In his last outing, McCarthy went 3 2/3 innings, gave up two runs and walked five against Boston.

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