Walks doom Bucs in loss to Dodgers

Pittsburgh pitchers walked 11 batters in the 4-3 loss.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Hitters hear it from the day they graduate from T-Ball: a walk is as good as a hit.

For the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, their 11 walks were barely good enough for a much-needed win on a day their bats didn’t do much.

James Loney’s line-drive single scored the go-ahead run in the 12th inning after Pittsburgh reliever Craig Hansen walked the bases full, and the Dodgers inched closer to winning the NL West by holding off the Pirates 4-3 Thursday.

The Dodgers left 12 on base despite getting only six hits and withstood two Pittsburgh comebacks for their 15th victory in 18 games.

They own a four-game lead over Arizona, which played San Francisco on Thursday night.

The Dodgers’ magic number for winning the division is seven, in any combination of Los Angeles wins and Arizona losses.

“This time of year — I know, it’s just a ballgame — but when you start taking them off the schedule, they mean so much more, especially in the position we’re in,” manager Joe Torre said. “To win a game like this on the road, with as many opportunities as we didn’t take advantage of, it was terrific.”

Los Angeles hadn’t scored since the seventh until Hansen (1-4) — the seventh of eight Pittsburgh pitchers — walked Russell Martin, Manny Ramirez intentionally and Casey Blake.

Loney, a left-handed batter, then drove a one-out single into left off T.J. Beam.

“Two strikes right there, you don’t want to hit a ground ball hard at somebody, you want to get it to the outfield deep enough for the runner to score,” Loney said. “Obviously, with two strikes it’s harder.”

Hansen recorded just one out and has walked 20 in 152‚Ñ3 innings since being dealt by Boston to Pittsburgh.

“He couldn’t get into any rhythm with his fastball or his slider,” manager John Russell said. “You wish you could harness that because he throws in the high 90s with a slider that drops off the table.”

Scott Proctor (2-0) won it with a scoreless 11th inning and Jonathan Broxton finished for his 14th save in 16 opportunities, stranding the potential tying run at third after Torre chose to intentionally walk Nate McLouth, who represented the winning run.

“This time of year, every day is like a season, and you need to win every day,” Torre said.

The Dodgers, coming off an ugly 15-8 loss Wednesday night in which they got 18 hits but still lost by seven runs, took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a walk, Matt Kemp’s two-out double — he has six hits in two games — and Blake DeWitt’s two-run single to center.

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was lifted after allowing one run and two hits over five innings, but former closer Takashi Saito couldn’t hold the lead in his second appearance since missing 53 games with an injured right elbow. Former Dodgers infielder Andy LaRoche’s RBI single tied it at 2.