LOS ANGELES _ Max Muncy atoned for a second-inning error that led to four unearned runs with a score-tying single in the fifth inning and a go-ahead single in the seventh to help push the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a sellout crowd of 52,875 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
Cody Bellinger continued his record-setting rampage through the first month of the season with a home run, a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly, and left-hander Rich Hill recovered from a rocky start to retire the last 13 batters he faced, as the Dodgers (19-11) completed a three-game sweep.
Julio Urias, making his second relief appearance since being demoted from the rotation, escaped a two-on, no-outs jam in the eighth inning, and Kenley Jansen struck out Gregory Polanco with runners on second and third for his 11th save.
Chris Taylor, who entered as part of a double switch in the top of the seventh inning, walked to open the seventh with the score tied 5-5. Joc Pederson followed with a grounder to Pirates first baseman Josh Bell.
But Bell's throw to second hit Taylor in the back, putting runners on second and third. Corey Seager popped out, but Muncy lined a single just beyond the glove of leaping shortstop Cole Tucker to drive in Taylor for a 6-5 lead and move Pederson to third.
Bellinger capped a seven-pitch at-bat against reliever Francisco Liriano by lining a slider into right-center field for a run-scoring single and a 7-5 lead. Bellinger's 44th hit set a franchise record for hits before May 1, surpassing Rafael Furcal's 43 in 2008.
Pittsburgh trimmed the lead to 7-6 in the eighth inning when Melky Cabrera singled to right field against Urias and advanced to third base when the ball got by Alex Verdugo for a two-base error. Polanco walked and Bell hit a run-scoring single to left field, but Urias got Jung Ho Kang and Elias Diaz to fly to right, and struck out Tucker with a 96-mph fastball.
Hill, sidelined since mid-March because of a left-knee sprain, struck out 16 batters in his final rehabilitation start against minor leaguers in an extended spring-training game in Arizona on April 22.
Big league hitters were not as forgiving in Hill's 2019 debut. Of the first 11 batters he faced, five got hits _ two were home runs by Cabrera _ five crossed the plate and only one struck out. Hill needed 44 pitches to get the first six outs.
But Hill found his bearings after Cabrera's second home run and retired 13 consecutive batters from the end of the second inning through the sixth, striking out five, before giving way to Urias to start the seventh inning of a 5-5 game. Hill needed only 41 pitches to complete his final four innings.
Bellinger shaved a run off the Pirates' early 5-1 lead with a home run to right-center field against Trevor Williams in the fourth inning, his 14th, which tied the Dodgers slugger with Milwaukee's Christian Yelich for the major league lead.
The shot, which came on a 1-and-2, down-and-inside slider, also tied a major league record for home runs before May 1, a mark set by Albert Pujols in 2006 and equaled by Alex Rodriguez in 2008 and Yelich this season.
The Dodgers tied it 5-5 with their three-run rally in the fifth inning. Enrique Hernandez led off with a single to left field and Russell Martin, in his first start since being sidelined April 10 because of a lower-back injury, singled to right. Both runners advanced on Hill's sacrifice.
Pederson struck out on three pitches, all fastballs, for the second out, but Seager split the right-center-field gap with a two-run double to pull the Dodgers within 5-4. Muncy then dropped a bloop single into right field for a single that made it 5-5.
