LOS ANGELES — Olmedo Saenz was one of Jim Tracy's favorite players when he managed the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tracy is running the Pittsburgh Pirates now, but his affection for Saenz hasn't changed.

Saenz hit a two-run homer, Marlon Anderson drove in a run with a suicide squeeze bunt, and Los Angeles beat the Pirates 5-2 Thursday night — avoiding what would have been a crushing three-game sweep with nine games left in the regular season.

"It's not a coincidence when you look over the course of this guy's career that the teams he's played for have found themselves in situations like the Dodgers are in — with a chance to play in the postseason," Tracy said of Saenz.

The victory gave the Dodgers a half-game lead over idle Philadelphia in the wild-card race and kept them a half-game back of NL West-leading San Diego, which beat Arizona 3-1. The Pirates next three games are at San Diego, while the Dodgers host the Diamondbacks.

With Nomar Garciaparra out of the starting lineup for precautionary reasons to rest his sore left quad, Saenz started at first base and gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first. He drove an 0-1 pitch deep into the pavilion seats in left-center after a leadoff single by Rafael Furcal.

Saenz is 22-for-47 lifetime against the Pirates with six home runs. He was 8-for-14 with two homers and seven RBI during the Dodgers' four-game series at Pittsburgh in mid-April.