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Pirates score three in 7th to down Dodgers

May 30, 2014 - 5:50 AM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Josh Harrison smacked a tiebreaking single to spark Pittsburgh's three-run seventh inning and the Pirates snapped a nine-game slide at Dodger Stadium with a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game set on Thursday.

Los Angeles shortstop Hanley Ramirez tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single in the sixth, but Harrison and Neil Walker ripped back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the seventh to put the Pirates on top.

Gaby Sanchez's RBI double capped the rally, which made a winner out of California native Gerrit Cole (5-3), who allowed three runs on six hits and two walks over 6 1/3 frames.

"I thought we played a great game," Cole said. "We played Pirate baseball. I just tried to limit the damage. It's all about playing our type of baseball."

Harrison finished 2-for-5 with two RBI for the Pirates, who defeated the Dodgers in Los Angeles for the first time since Sept. 15, 2011.

Brandon League (1-2) was charged for all three runs in the seventh to absorb the loss, while Yasiel Puig went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Dodgers, who have dropped back-to-back games.

League opened the seventh on the mound in place of Los Angeles starter Dan Haren, who allowed three runs on eight hits over six innings.

Starling Marte reached on Ramirez's throwing error to open the inning before stealing second. The speedy right fielder was originally ruled safe, but the Dodgers challenged the call and Marte was ruled out after video review.

League, who hadn't allowed an earned run over his last 16 appearances, then served up a single to Clint Barmes, who moved to second on Cole's sacrifice bunt.

Harrison then laced a liner to center to score Barmes and Walker followed suit with a base hit back up the middle to score Harrison for a 5-3 lead.

"Brandon has been pretty good, but they squared a few up tonight," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "You have to allow him a hiccup once in awhile."

Following a walk to Andrew McCutchen, League was replaced by Paul Maholm, who surrendered Sanchez's pinch-hit double to left that made it 6-3.

Tony Watson replaced Cole with a runner on first and one out in the home half and induced a double-play groundout from Dee Gordon to end the frame.

Mark Melancon then worked a 1-2-3 eighth before Jason Grilli pitched around a two-out double in the ninth to nail down his sixth save of the season.

The Dodgers struck first in the opening frame, as Andre Ethier ripped a one- out triple and scored when Puig's towering fly ball fell in front of Marte in right field.

Pedro Alvarez launched a two-out solo shot in the second to tie the game, but Gordon came through with a two-out RBI single in the home half to restore the Dodgers' one-run lead.

Harrison retied the tilt with a two-out run-scoring single of his own in the fifth and Russell Martin followed an inning later with his third homer of the season to make it 3-2 Pittsburgh, but Puig opened the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored on Ramirez's base hit to right to make it 3-3.

Game Notes

Walker went 2-for-5 to extend his hit-streak to 10 games ... Los Angeles finished 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base ... Cole, who pitched three seasons at UCLA after doing so with Orange (CA) Lutheran High School, made his second big league appearance in his hometown.