Clayton Kershaw pitched his way to freedom while earning his first win in 2 1/2 months.

The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner won’t be facing any further restrictions in his next start after a solid outing in the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Five Dodgers homered including Max Muncy with a pair Richard Panik Jersey , and the team’s six homers were the most they’ve hit at home since also launching six on Sept. 9, 2013, against Arizona.

”You want to get guys back in the dugout as fast as possible the way they’re swinging the bats,” said Kershaw, who was limited by a pitch count in his last three outings.

Ivan Nova (4-6) became the first pitcher in Pirates history to give up five homers in a game. Pittsburgh has been outscored 25-4 in the first two games of the series.

”They’re horses over there. It’s a stacked team,” Pirates third baseman David Freese said. ”They’ve just got really good approaches right now and they’re on time, all of them are on time.”

The Dodgers have 11 homers three days into July and 122 so far this season after slugging a major league-leading and franchise-record 55 in June.

”It’s pretty remarkable what we’re doing,” manager Dave Roberts said. ”When I look at what we’ve accomplished offensively, we’re in some uncharted territory.”

Kershaw (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings of his third start since coming off the disabled list. The left-handed ace’s two strikeouts were against Nova and Kershaw didn’t walk anyone to earn his first victory since April 15 at Arizona. He had two losses and four straight no-decisions since.

”His velo is down a little bit but he’s still got that cutter and he works it. He’s just a guy that locates,” Freese said. ”You can sense when he’s out there that he trusts every pitch he’s about to throw. That’s that makes him really good.”

Kershaw had not gone as late as July 3 with just one win since his rookie year in 2008 when he didn’t earn his second victory until Aug. 7.

”It’s kind of what we wanted,” Roberts said of Kershaw. ”The fifth and sixth innings were probably the best for me. The ball came out well. We can feel confident going forward the reins are off.”

Joc Pederson and Muncy homered back-to-back for the second straight game.

Pederson sent Nova’s first pitch of the game over the right-field wall and Muncy followed with a shot to center field for a 2-0 lead.

”They have a really good lineup but we’ve got to be able to do a better job than that,” Nova said.

Muncy led off the third with his team-high 20th homer for a 3-1 lead.

”I never thought I could hit this many home runs in such a short amount of time,” said Muncy, who has played in just 63 games this season.

Freese provided the lone bright spot for the Pirates, going 3 for 3 with a pair of RBI singles that twice cut the Dodgers’ lead to one run, and a solo homer off reliever Yimi Garcia.

Chris Taylor kept the slugfest going in the fourth with a two-run shot that made it 5-2. He went 3 for 4 with a strikeout and finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle.

”It seems to be contagious up and down the lineup, which makes it fun in the dugout,” Taylor said.

Yasmani Grandal led off the sixth with a homer and Taylor doubled to deep center field to chase Nova.

Nova gave up a season-high seven earned runs and nine hits Shane Doan Jersey , struck out three and walked two in five innings.

”It’s not fun to give up that many homers,” Nova said. ”Sometimes you give up that many runs and you don’t feel that bad, but giving up five homers is too much.”

Nova’s replacement didn’t fare any better. Enrique Hernandez blasted a two-run homer on the first pitch from Dovydas Neverauskas, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 8-2.

Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp’s run of eight hits in eight consecutive at-bats ended when he struck out to end the first. One night after tying a career high with five hits, including a three-run homer, Kemp was hitless in four at-bats with two other strikeouts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (right index finger infection) went on the DL retroactive to June 30. He was scheduled to start Wednesday’s series finale.

Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler was moved to the DL retroactive to June 29. He began a rehab assignment for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

UP NEXT

RHP Clay Holmes (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will replace Musgrove in the series finale on Wednesday. Dodgers LHP Rich Hill (1-3, 4.68) took a no-hitter into extra innings in Pittsburgh last August before allowing a walk-off solo homer in the 10th.

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This time, the short porch at Yankee Stadium ended up hurting the home team.

Even with one of baseball’s tallest players posted at the wall.

Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning that nicked the glove of a leaping Aaron Judge in right field, and the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Yankees 5-3 on Monday in a matchup between the top teams in each league entering the night.

”It should give us a lot of confidence,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ”It’s good for our young guys that come into a place like this against a team like this, as good as they are, and play well.”

Johan Camargo homered early and Jesse Biddle pitched out of a late jam for the NL East leaders, who followed up a three-game sweep in St. Louis with their fourth consecutive victory. Atlanta (49-34) is 15 games over .500 for the first time since the conclusion of the 2013 season.

New York (54-28) fell a game behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

The 20-year-old Acuna also doubled and drove in three runs, four years to the day after the touted rookie signed with the Braves.

”First time here at Yankee Stadium,” he said through a translator. ”First home run at Yankee Stadium is very special to me.”

Judge hit his 23rd homer and second in two nights. Gleyber Torres had three hits and scored twice, but the rookie second baseman’s 10th error since he was called up April 22 helped Atlanta get started in the 11th.

Playing on the outfield grass, Torres booted Nick Markakis‘ leadoff grounder. One out later Russell Shepard Jersey , Acuna lofted a 1-2 pitch from David Robertson (5-3) the other way. Judge, all 6-foot-7 of him, got in good position at the auxiliary scoreboard and jumped, but the ball glanced off the tip of his webbing and cleared the fence.

”Tough play. I want to make that play for D-Rob and I wasn’t able to come through,” Judge said. ”That’s all it is, just a little timing. If I time it up right I make that play. On that one, I was just a little late.”

Robertson slumped near the mound as an excited Acuna circled the bases with his seventh home run – third in the past six games.

”Man, when he hit it I thought it was an out, to be honest with you,” Robertson said. ”Playing here at Yankee Stadium, you see it happen all the time. The short porch gets you in right field.”

Robertson had faced 182 right-handed batters without giving up a home run since Adam Rosales connected off him on June 25, 2017.

A.J. Minter got three outs for his fourth save .

”He’s got a save in Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium. I mean, that’s pretty good for a first-year reliever,” Snitker said. ”And you can tell, he’s liking that situation, too. He doesn’t back down. He’s got a lot of confidence in himself.”

New York stranded 12 and went a season-worst 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

The Yankees had the bases loaded with one out in the 10th before Biddle (2-0) struck out Greg Bird and Austin Romine on seven pitches. The left-hander fanned four in two scoreless innings.

”These fans are pretty loud, and I was just trying to quiet them down,” Biddle said.

Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for the Yankees Daryl Williams Jersey , hitting a season-high 104 mph on the stadium radar gun to oohs and aahs from the crowd of 43,792. Dellin Betances retired slugger Freddie Freeman with runners at the corners to end the 10th.

Judge hit a pop-fly homer to right in the first and has gone deep in four of his last six games. Camargo answered with a leadoff shot in the third against rookie starter Jonathan Loaisiga, who was sent to the minors after the game.

Braves right-hander Anibal Sanchez allowed three runs in six innings.

ROSTER SHUFFLE

Loaisiga was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to open a spot for RHP A.J. Cole (neck strain), who will be reinstated from the disabled list Tuesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said there’s a good chance Loaisiga will return next Monday to start in a doubleheader at Baltimore.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

With the international signing period open, the Yankees landed the younger brother of ace pitcher Luis Severino. Rafael Severino is a 19-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic who will start out at the club’s academy there.

”Yippee. Sign me up for that,” Boone said. ”Definitely good to have another Severino in the mix.”

The elder Severino, who is 13-2 with a 1.98 ERA, leads the majors in wins and the AL in ERA. He said he was excited, and happily delivered the news to his kid brother.

”He was flipping out. He didn’t believe it,” Luis Severino told reporters . ”I think he’s going to be really good.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: Reliever Peter Moylan was placed on the 10-day DL with a strained right forearm and RHP Matt Wisler was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. OF Michael Reed and RHP Evan Phillips were called up from Triple-A. … Arodys Vizcaino (right shoulder inflammation) threw a bullpen and could come off the disabled list Tuesday. Vizcaino, who has 15 saves, has been sidelined since June 21.

Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (two strained hamstrings) threw a bullpen and is scheduled to make a rehab start Wednesday at Triple-A. He could rejoin the team early next week in Baltimore – perhaps in time to pitch in the doubleheader. … As a precaution, Romine (left hamstring) was out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive night. He entered at catcher in the ninth. Romine will likely start one of the next two games, Boone said.