FAQ » the side of the defense i

LOS ANGELES -- Nobody wanted to be left out Saturday, as the first seven hitters in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup had multihit games, with Joc Pederson leading the way with a home run, double and single.The Dodgers, who lead the majors in batting average and slugging percentage since the All-Star break, combined 17 hits and a pair of successful challenges for an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.Were just grinding as a team, putting together quality at-bats, Pederson said. Weve been hitting balls hard for a while now. It was nice to get a game where everybody got a benefit from it.The offense has been swinging the bat really well, he said. The bullpen has been doing really well. Weve just been playing good baseball. We have to keep building on that.The Dodgers hit five doubles and used three Pittsburgh errors to win a game that did not see a 1-2-3 inning until the bottom of the eighth.Pederson had his 17th homer, a two-run shot. Corey Seager also three hits and an RBI as Los Angeles overcame a 3-1 deficit by scoring in each of the first six innings.Relievers Josh Fields, Julio Urias (3-2), Joe Blanton, Pedro Baez, Josh Ravin and Kenley Jansen combined to hold Pittsburgh to one run over 7 1/3 innings. Jansen got his 35th save.A starter in his 10 previous appearances, Urias came with two outs in the third, and pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.Its a huge win for us, Pederson said. It didnt go the way we planned, but Julio stepped up big, and we were able to get some runs and win the ballgame.The Pirates, who had 10 hits to go with 11 walks, tied a franchise record by leaving 18 men on base. They left the bases loaded in the first and second innings.They were out there. We couldnt get them in, manager Clint Hurdle said. I dont think we were trying to do anything except fight, scratch, claw our way back into the game.Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy was forced from the game in the second inning with right hip stiffness. He walked home runs in runs in both the first and second innings as he struggled with control for his second straight start.I just couldnt work through it. I think its more game intensity. In the bullpen I can get through it, he said. I need to take some time and get the body right. Ive got to get back physically to a good point. Whatever that takes, however long it takes.McCarthy walked five and hit one of the 13 batters he faced, throwing 29 of 51 pitches out of the strike zone.Gerrit Cole (7-8) gave up 12 hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings.Jung Ho Kang hit his 12th home run and Francisco Cervelli had three hits for the Pirates. Pittsburgh had won 14 of 18 from the Dodgers before this loss.The Dodgers needed their second successful challenge -- and a 2:29 review -- to take a 6-3 lead in the fifth.Urias put down a sacrifice bunt to first baseman John Jaso, and Howie Kendrick broke home from third. Kendrick made a wide dive to avoid Cervellis sweeping tag, and plate umpire Jim Joyce called him out. The call was overturned on replay.The Dodgers tied it at 3 in the third thanks to a successful challenge and Kangs two errors on one play at third base.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: OF Starling Marte left the game in the eighth inning with upper back discomfort. ... Sidelined since July 2, C Chris Stewart (knee) began a rehab assignment Friday night at Double-A Altoona, catching seven innings. ... Cervelli returned to the lineup after missing two games with left wrist discomfort.Dodgers: 3B Justin Turner was a late scratch from the lineup with a right hand contusion, replaced by rookie Dave Segedin. ... RHP Bud Norris (mild mid-back strain) was scheduled to make his first rehab start Saturday for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.UP NEXTPirates: RHP Chad Kuhl (2-0,3.91) gets the start on Sunday. The 23-year-old rookie made his MLB debut (5IP/3ER) against the Dodgers on June 26, outdueling Clayton Kershaw in Pittsburghs 4-3 victory. The right-hander has allowed two runs over his last two starts.Dodgers: LHP Brett Anderson, who underwent back surgery in March, makes his season debut for the Dodgers on Sunday. In three rehab starts, he went 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings. He was 10-9 in 31 starts with Los Angeles in 2015, and will be the 13th starting pitcher used by the Dodgers this year. Cheap Yeezy China .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Clearance Yeezy For Sale . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. https://www.yeezychina.us/ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Fake Yeezy China . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Wholesale Yeezy Shop . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. NEW ORLEANS -- One car rear-ends another on a Saturday night. People argue. It escalates.Ten or so gunshots later, one driver is dead and the other waits nervously to give his side of the story to police.Conflicts settled by gunfire are tragically common in New Orleans but there was nothing routine about this one: the dead man was retired football player Will Smith, a star on the 2006 Saints team that help lift the stricken citys spirits with a winning season after Hurricane Katrina, and on the team that won the franchises only Super Bowl three seasons later.The accused is a 29-year-old former semiprofessional football player named Cardell Hayes. The owner of a tow-truck company and the father of a 5-year-old son, Hayes is described by friends as soft-spoken, even-tempered -- hardly the type to erupt into a lethal road rage. His attorney has been laying the groundwork for a self-defense argument ahead of a trial that opens Monday, but he may face an added burden in Smiths local popularity and national renown.Will Smith obviously was a beloved member of the New Orleans community, Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said in a recent interview. And thats going to make the defense of this case all the more difficult.Smiths shooting death is strangely similar to that of Joe McKnight, another former NFL player who was shot and killed just last Thursday in a New Orleans suburb after a road rage incident on a nearby bridge spiraled out of control. The man authorities identified as the shooter in that case -- Ronald Gasser -- has been released from custody with no charges as the investigation continues.Hayes has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Smiths death. Conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Hes also charged with attempted second-degree murder in the wounding of Smiths wife, who was shot in the legs. Hes been jailed since the April shooting, unable to make the $1.75 million bond.Snippets of surveillance video from near the scene, police statements plus testimony from pre-trial hearings paint this picture of what happened on April 9:Smith, his wife and two friends left a restaurant in New Orleans Lower Garden District and were heading downtown on Magazine Street. At one point Smiths SUV appeared to bump the rear of a Hummer that had come to a stop on the street.Rather than stop, Smith swerved his SUV around the Hummer and continued downtown. Moments later, the Hummer hit Smiths SUV from behind, shatterinng the rear window and pushing it into the rear of another car -- in which more friends of Smith were riding.ddddddddddddho the aggressors were in the ensuing conflict will be at issue in the trial. Hayes acknowledged to at least one police officer that he was armed when he got out of his vehicle. He said he was accosted by an unarmed Smith and others, and that Smith struck him, although police said there were no obvious signs of injury.The first officer to approach the scene after the crash was an off-duty rookie who had been at a nearby bar. Christopher McGaw has testified that he approached the scene as the argument grew more heated, ducked for cover when gunshots rang out, then approached again, finding Smith slumped across the front seat of his car, one hand extended toward the glove box.What was I supposed to do? Hayes is heard asking McGaw, on a recording of a 911 call McGaw had placed at the scene.Why Smith drove away from the scene of the first, apparently minor accident; whether Hayes intentionally rammed Smiths vehicle moments later; whether Smith was reaching for a gun when he was shot to death -- all are issues that will likely be addressed at trial.On the side of the defense is a toxicology report showing that Smith was legally drunk at the time of his death. Other factors Ciolino cited: The fact that Will Smith was, by some reports, so loud and belligerent; the fact that the forensic evidence, arguably could support that Will Smith was reaching for a gun.Smith had returned to his SUV when he was shot and police said there was a loaded gun in the vehicle. That might help the defense argument that Hayes shot in self-defense, Ciolino said. But its an argument that could be blunted by the fact that Smith was shot eight times -- seven in the back, one in the side -- Ciolino added.Prosecutors also have made much of the fact that Hayess Hummer had hit Smiths SUV from behind so hard that the rear window shattered.Another odd twist in the case: A friend of Smiths who wound up at the scene the night of the shooting is William Ceravolo, a retired New Orleans police officer who had dined with the Smiths before the accident. Ceravolo was among six officers sued by Hayes after police killed his father, Anthony Hayes, in December 2005. Police settled the lawsuit in 2011, and terms were confidential. ' ' '