PITTSBURGH — After enduring last year’s late-season free fall with Pittsburgh, Andrew McCutchen is convinced these Pirates aren’t on their way to a repeat performance.

Chad Billingsley pitched eight dominant innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the Pirates 11-0 Tuesday night.

Pittsburgh has lost five of six and six of eight and is 3-6 on its season-long 11-game homestand.

That’s bringing back memories of last season in Pittsburgh; where there were high hopes the Pirates would have their first winning season since 1992 when they were 53-47 on July 26. Instead, a 19-43 collapse the rest of the way resulted in the franchise’s seventh consecutive 90-loss season.

“We are doing a lot better than we did last year,” McCutchen said. “We are still in a good position and where we need to be. It’s not like we are 30 games out of it. We’re still fighting and we need to keep playing like we are the team that everybody is scared to play against.”

Wild card leaders just a week ago, Pittsburgh’s grip on the second wild card spot has slipped to a half-game lead over the surging Dodgers.

“This is our worst patch of play probably during the season,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Every team that I have been on has a patch of play like this. We know what we are dealing with and we have to find a way to turn it around.”

The Dodgers have won five of six, pushing them to the top of the NL West.

Luis Cruz tied career highs for hits and RBIs with three each. Hanley Ramirez added three hits, two RBIs and two runs as Los Angeles beat the Pirates for the eighth straight time dating to last season.

Los Angeles matched its highest-scoring game of the season.

Billingsley (9-9) won his fifth consecutive start, allowing five hits and one walk. He improved to 7-1 in his career against the Pirates.

Billingsley waited out a 55-minute relay at the beginning, then struck five and improved to 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts since a July stint on the disabled list due to elbow inflammation. He had lost all five of his previous outings before going on the DL.

“You know, honestly, nothing much,” Billingsley said when asked what’s been different since coming off the DL. “I’ve been throwing just fastballs and commanding the fastball pretty well lately, and just mixing in offspeed. As far as my thought process, it hasn’t changed.”

Shawn Tolleson worked a perfect ninth to preserve the Dodgers’ seventh shutout of the season. The Pirates have been blanked 10 times.

Pittsburgh’s Kevin Correia (9-7) had won seven straight decisions, tied for the longest active streak in the majors.

Auditioning for a permanent spot in the starting rotation during the stretch drive, Correia gave up five earned runs and seven hits in six innings. Only four hits off Correia left the infield.

“I felt good out there and I think that I made a lot of good pitches,” Correia said. “Obviously things didn’t really go my way for a few innings, but I had chances after that to make a good pitch and get out of the inning and I missed a couple.”

Before the game, Hurdle said that he would go with a five-man rotation after the team’s next day off Aug. 23. Correia was removed from the rotation after the team acquired Wandy Rodriguez on July 24 despite the fact Correia won his fifth consecutive start the following day.