It was the proverbial ‘You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ scenario.

For the first time in a very long time, a Dodgers starting pitcher – 24-year-old right-hander Bobby Miller – actually went more than five innings, 5.2 to be exact, giving Dodgers manager Dave Roberts‘ heavily used bullpen a much needed and well-deserved break.

“It was great, it was great,” Roberts said of Miller, following his team’s exciting 6-4 come-from-behind win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night. “I thought, you know, early, gave up some runs but kind of reset, allowed us, allowed himself, to go deeper in the game, get into the sixth inning, and for me, he just started losing some command, and got (Dodgers right-handed reliever Phil) Bickford to get us out of that inning, which was huge. But, yeah, to be able to shorten the game a little bit, I just don’t know where we’d have been if he couldn’t have got into the sixth inning.”

As Roberts noted, 27-year-old right-hander Phil Bickford bailed Miller out of a two-out/runner on first (that one walk) situation in the sixth, preventing any further damage. Bickford was replaced by Messrs. Ryan Brasier and Caleb Ferguson, who each tossed a scoreless inning, with 36-year-old/14-year MLB veteran Daniel Hudson pitching a scoreless ninth to lock down Miller’s fifth win of the season and the Dodgers’ 48th.

Ironically, the Dodgers re-signed Hudson earlier in the day and he managed to escape a tenuous top of the ninth inning in which he gave up a ground rule double to Pirates pinch-hitter Connor Joe and walked McCutchen and Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds to load the bases with no outs. But with ice in his veins, Hudson struck out Pirates right fielder Henry Davis, got Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana to flyout to short left field, and struck out Pirates centerfielder Jack Suwinski (who had homered in the first inning off of Miller) swinging, to earn his first save of the season and 33rd of his career.

As for those six Dodgers runs, one came on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Dodgers right fielder Jason Heyward, followed by a clutch two-RBI single to center by shortstop Miguel Rojas.

The Dodgers added four more in their half of the fifth inning, three on a monster three-run home run to left by Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez (aka: ‘Just Dingers’), which was immediately followed by a mammoth solo blast to very deep right field by Dodgers left fielder David Peralta.

With the win, coupled with a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers remain in second place in the NL West, but now trail the snakes by only a game and a half.

Play Ball!

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