Pederson homers as Dodgers double up Bucs

LOS ANGELES — Joc Pederson, Howie Kendrick, and Chase Utley all had multiple extra-base hits as the Dodgers overcame Brandon McCarthy’s short start and outlasted the Pirates, 8-4, on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

With the victory, the Dodgers remain one game back of the National League West-leading Giants, who beat the Orioles. The Pirates are 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card.

McCarthy entered the game having walked a career-high five batters in his past two starts and managed to perform that feat again within two innings. After walking five — two with the bases loaded — and hitting a batter, he was pulled two outs into the second with what the Dodgers called right hip tightness.

• LA’s McCarthy says he’s heading back to DL

Manager Dave Roberts said after the game that McCarthy has been dealing with the issue since an Aug. 2 start while McCarthy said he expected to go on the disabled list.

“Something’s in there, just can’t really work through right now. Don’t know what that’s getting in the way of, but it just keeps going,” McCarthy said.

Coming away with just three earned runs from McCarthy’s 1 2/3 innings was just the start of a miserable day on offense for Pittsburgh, which tied a franchise single-game record with 18 men left on base and went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

“A ball in the gap would have been nice. We didn’t get it,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We got a couple walks, plated a couple runs, kept stretching things out. We just weren’t able to score.”

• Bucs tie club mark with 18 stranded runners

The flip side of that is the Dodgers walked 11, the team’s highest total in a nine-inning game since May 25, 2009.

While the Dodgers’ bullpen managed to limit the damage, allowing just one run in 7 1/3 innings, it was a different story for Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole. The UCLA graduate allowed a career high 12 hits and exited in the fourth inning after allowing six runs (four earned). It would take until the seventh inning for the Pirates to throw a scoreless frame as the first seven hitters in Los Angeles’ starting lineup all had multiple hits.

“I just thought they capitalized on mistakes,” Cole said. “They were able to keep the line moving on us. … It just seemed like I got punished today whether it was a good pitch or whether it was a …

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