LOS ANGELES — The Pittsburgh Pirates were leading 6-3 in the eighth inning at the Los Angeles Angels when the Mirror went to press Tuesday night.

Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third on RBI singles from Joey Bart and Ke’Bryan Hayes.

The Angels cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning on a Taylor Ward home run.

Andrew McCutchen made it 5-1 when he homeredin the fourth to score Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds.

Nolan Schanuel and Joe Adell each delivered solo RBI efforts in the fourth to cut it to 5-3, but an infield single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa made it 6-3 for the Pirates in the fifth.

Bailey Falter started for the Pirates and left after four innings with lower back tightness. He was charged with three earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts.

Angels starter Jose Soriano was touched up for five earned runs on eight hits in just three-plus innings of work. He struck out two.

Going into the west coast trip to Los Angeles, the Pirates’ .206 team batting average was the worst in the National League, as is their .320 slugging percentage and .608 OPS.

The Pirates had scored just 42 runs between the first and sixth innings through their first 23 games.