The Los Angeles Dodgers were on the cusp of securing their third straight series win, but even with Shohei Ohtani on the bump, the Pittsburgh Pirates overcame a five-run deficit to defeat Los Angeles 9-8 on Wednesday night. 

Going back in time to Ohtani's previous start in Arizona, it was apparent that he was dealing with a blister on his throwing middle finger.

Dodgers manger Dave Roberts played down the significance of it, stating that he doesn't "expect it to affect him going forward.”  

With that aside, the blister reappeared in his outing against Pittsburgh, flaring up in the sixth inning of his start. 

Despite dealing with the blister, Ohtani was able to go 6.2 innings against the Pirates, giving up just three earned runs on six hits and striking out six. 

“No issues with the blisters," Ohtani said on whether the blister in his middle finger has been affecting his outings or not. "I don’t think it’s been affecting my performance. Just the last couple of at-bats where I was hoping I wish I got some calls my way.” 

The first blip of Ohtani's start came in the bottom of the fourth. Pirates right fielder Tyler Callihan ambushed the two-way player, crushing his first career home run on a first-pitch 97.8 mph fastball.  

Ohtani dealt with the majority of his traffic in the seventh inning, as after the first two Pirates hitters reached, Brandon Lowe hit a rocket of an RBI double that cleared the bases. 

“Going into that inning, the pitch count was relatively low, so I don’t think so," Ohtani said on whether his fatigue had caught up with him in the seventh inning. "After the two hitters, I felt pretty good; it was just the misexecution on that 3-0 pitch.” 

Just like they had done during the Tuesday series opener, the Dodgers' offense scored in bunches. 

The offense kicked off in the top of the fourth with an RBI double by Max Muncy. He had a perfect day against Paul Skenes on Tuesday, going 3-for-3, and continued that by going 3-for-3 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday. 

Kyle Tucker followed that up with an RBI single up the middle to give Los Angeles an early 2-0 lead. 

A big splash was made by one Dodgers rookie in the top of the sixth. 

With two outs and the bases full of Dodgers, Ryan Ward took Carmen Mlodzinski's first pitch sweeper 385 feet to deep right field for his first career grand slam. 

That slam gave the Dodgers a comfortable 6-1 lead at the time, but the Pirates fought back with an explosive eighth inning. 

Kyle Hurt, who was one of the most consistent arms coming out of the Dodgers' bullpen, was rocked for four earned runs in his eighth inning of work. 

Before recording his first out, Callihan returned the favor once more, launching a go-ahead three-run shot, his second of the game.  

That gave the Pirates their first lead of the game, and they did not look back, scoring two insurance runs by way of a two-run longball from Spencer Horwitz. 

The Dodgers showed some fight in the ninth, with Ohtani crushing a two-run home run, putting Los Angeles within one. They fell short, and the Pirates completed the comeback victory. 

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