Ryan Doumit is greeted at the dugout steps by manager Jim Tracy after his sixth-inning sacrifice fly drove in what proved to be the winning run in the Pirates' 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday.

PITTSBURGH — A familiar start for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a multiple-run lead in the first inning. A familiar start for the Pittsburgh Pirates, too, with another big deficit to overcome.

Only this time the Pirates found a way to come back and win, preventing their worst start to a season since 1955.

Ryan Doumit hit one of Pittsburgh's four homers and drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning Tuesday night to help the Pirates rally for a 7-6 victory over the Dodgers.

Jeromy Burnitz added a two-run homer, and Craig Wilson and Jack Wilson each hit a solo shot as the Pirates came back from deficits of 3-0, 5-2 and 6-3 to avoid their first 1-8 start in 51 years. Pittsburgh lost six of seven on a weeklong road trip, then dropped its home opener to the Dodgers 8-3 Monday, falling behind early in nearly every game.

"We've stayed in a lot of games, and we're showing we can compete," Burnitz said. "This team is going to battle every night. There's a lot of joy in the fight around here ... and I think you're going to see a lot of that all year."

The Pirates only wish they didn't have to keep fighting back every night.

The Dodgers scored two or more runs in the first inning for the sixth time in eight games as Ricky Ledee, a last-minute lineup substitution, hit a two-run homer during a three-run inning against right-hander Ian Snell. Bill Mueller later hit two solo homers during his first career four-hit game.

But Jae Seo repeatedly couldn't hold leads in his first Dodgers start, giving up five runs and seven hits in five innings. Burnitz quickly got the Pirates back in the game with his two-run drive — his second — off Seo in the first, and Jack Wilson had a run-scoring single in the third before he and Doumit hit their solo homers in the fifth.

The Pirates' two-run sixth started when Craig Wilson, in the lineup only because Sean Casey was a late scratch with a bruised rib cage, hit a tying homer off reliever Lance Carter (0-1). It was the Pirates' third homer in a span of seven batters. Joe Randa followed with a double down the left-field line and, after Jose Castillo's groundout, scored on Doumit's sacrifice fly.

"I think it shows a lot about this team, this shows what we're capable of," Jack Wilson said of the comeback.

Doumit was as happy with the sacrifice fly as he was the home run, saying, "We hit a lot of home runs, but when we had to play small ball to win the game, we did. I just hope this is the start of something."

Pirates reliever Salomon Torres (1-1) followed up Snell's ineffective start — six runs and 10 hits in five innings — with two shutout relief innings for the victory.

Roberto Hernandez pitched a scoreless eighth before left-hander Mike Gonzalez threw five pitches in the ninth for his first save this season and the fourth of his career.