LOS ANGELES -- Clutch hitting from Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez helped the Pittsburgh Pirates finally win a series in Dodger Stadium after a seven-year drought. McCutchen hit his first home run in over a month, doubled twice and scored two runs to help the Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Sunday and take three of four from the defending NL West champions. "Its good that we were able to get three out of four against a really good team here in L.A.," McCutchen said. "We havent done that in a long time, so its a step in the right direction, definitely." Alvarez drove in three runs against Zack Greinke and Josh Harrison homered against Chris Perez, helping the Pirates win for the eighth time in 12 games. The last time they captured a series at Chavez Ravine was in September 2006, when they took two of three under then manager Jim Tracy. "Weve been out here a lot and not done a whole lot. So it was a big thing for us -- because we flat-out believe we can play," skipper Clint Hurdle said. "We needed to knock this off our to-do list, and we were able to. We knew what we were facing here, and we outpitched them for three of the four days. We played three really clean ballgames. We have confidence and we have enough edge and grit, and I think it showed up this weekend." Edinson Volquez (3-4) allowed two runs and five hits over five innings, striking out six and walking one. "Youve got to stay focused on what youre doing, especially against those guys because they have a good lineup," Volquez said. "You cant make a lot of mistakes against them, especially with Greinke because hes one of the best pitchers in the National League. Tonight I had better fastball command than I did in New York, so I was able to throw more strikes and keep the fastball down." Jason Grilli, the fifth Pirates pitcher, got three outs for his eighth save and third of the series after giving up a pair of two-out walks and an RBI single by pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke. It was the Dodgers only hit after Justin Turners solo homer with one out in the fourth. Greinke (8-2) gave up a season-worst four runs and five hits in seven innings and struck out seven. "Hes an ultra-competitor. And to beat him, youve got to out-compete him," Hurdle said. "We laid off some tight pitches, we worked some counts, got his pitch count up, then we hit some pitches we were able to handle and got the barrel on them. But that was the plan coming in. I mean, you give him strike one and he can cut you up three different ways. So we just tried to be as aggressive as he was. We were looking for fastballs early, and his location played into it." Alvarez opened the scoring in the first with a two-run single after Greinke gave up a two-out double to McCutchen and walks to Ike Davis and Russell Martin. "McCutchen did a lot against us," manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously the kid at third base (Alvarez) had a couple of big hits too, and had some good at-bats. Zack had been fairly successful against him." McCutchen, whose 21 homers, 84 RBIs and .317 average last season helped the Pirates end a 20-year playoff drought, made it 3-1 in the third with his fifth homer and first since April 23. The RBI was the first for the reigning NL MVP after a drought of nine games and 33 at-bats since his run-scoring single against Washingtons Blake Treinen on May 22. "I havent been hitting the ball the way I knew I could be, so tonight was a good start for myself," said McCutchen, who came in 4 for 21 against Greinke with two RBIs. "Just being ready to hit was the biggest key, and getting pitches to hit. Ive been a little late, probably because my timings been off on off-speed pitches. So tonight I got myself in a hitting position and was ready to fire. And when I got a good pitch to hit I was able to put the barrel on it." Harrison, who was 7 for 17 in the series, hit his fourth homer in the seventh for the Pirates final run. NOTES: Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig had two hits and has reached base in 33 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors. ... RHP Bryan Morris, who gave up Hanley Ramirezs second homer of the game in Saturdays 12-2 Pirates loss, was traded to the Miami Marlins for the 39th overall pick in Thursdays draft. RHP Casey Sadler was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, where he was 6-1 with a 2.66 ERA in eight starts. Adidas Superstra Wholesale Canada . The team said they will announce a corresponding roster move prior to their series opener on Tuesday night in Kansas City. Adidas Originals Superstar Shoes Canada . "Its embarrassing what were doing here," leading scorer Phil Kessel said Wednesday. The most recent failed season came with even more pain than the six that preceded it. There was no hint of an impending implosion when the Leafs came roaring out of the all-star break with back-to-back games against Pittsburgh -- a 5-4 shootout loss followed by a 1-0 win the next night. http://www.wholesalesuperstarcanada.com/ .C. United on Saturday night and boost the Unions playoff hopes. Nick DeLeon scored in the 36th minute for United (3-23-6), which had ample opportunities to build on its lead but went its 10th straight match without a victory. Adidas Superstar Shoes Canada .com) - Avery Bradley scored 21 points and the Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets, 89-81. Adidas Superstar Clearance Sale . The Grizzlies erased most of a 25-point deficit before Durant, the leagues scoring champion, got hot. MIAMI -- LeBron James set the tone pregame. Dwyane Wade took over in the fourth quarter. And the Miami Heat got a win they desperately wanted. Wade scored 13 of his 22 points in the final period and led a critical 12-0 run down the stretch, James led all scorers with 23 points and the Heat clinched a playoff spot by beating the Washington Wizards 99-90 on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak. "We needed a win," Wade said. "We needed this win." Chris Bosh scored 22 for the Heat (44-17), who moved within one game of Indiana (46-17) in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and 1 1/2 games behind San Antonio (46-16) for the leagues best record. Ray Allen added 13 for Miami, which was coming off a trip where it lost at Houston, San Antonio and Chicago, the last of those coming in a late collapse on Sunday. Wade hasnt typically played back-to-backs this season. He did this time, and the Heat simply rolled with him in the final minutes on the way to avoiding what would have been their first four-game slide since 2011. "He made the right plays," James said. Bradley Beal scored 18 points, Martell Webster added 17 and Drew Gooden scored 15 for the Wizards. Marcin Gortat finished with 14 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds -- 10 of them in the first quarter alone. John Wall finished with eight assists for Washington. "Im proud of our guys," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "They kept battling, working. We didnt shoot it the way were capable of. We got some good looks. We shared the ball. We attacked the whole game." Washington led 84-83 midway through the fourth, when Wade took over. A three-point play put Miami ahead to stay and he then had assists on Miamis next three baskets -- a short jumper and then a 3-pointer from Bosh, then a layup by James. Wade capped the run with a score of his own, on the way to his first 13-point, three-assist fourth quarter since Feb. 18, 2009. His 13 in the fourth marked his highest-scoring quarter this season, and came with him playing consecutive days for the first time since Jan. 4 and 5. It was only the third time all season hes appeared in both nights of a back-to-back. Both teams shot only nine free throws; despite bbeing in attack mode, James didnt shoot one for the second straight game, just the second time thats happened in his career, the first coming in December 2003, early in his rookie season.dddddddddddd "Very surprised," James said. James went scoreless for a stretch of nearly 15 minutes in the first half, and still easily led everyone with 19 points by intermission. The entirety of his first-half scoring came in two impressive spurts -- three 3-pointers in as many tries over a span of 2:43 early in the game, then 10 straight Heat points in a stretch of 3:23 late in the half. "I felt good about this game the minute, the second I saw LeBron come into the gym today," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We had an early walkthrough and he ran in the gym. Came up to every single person, player and coach and shook everybodys hand and said, Lets go. Lets get ready for this game. Thats what leaders do." Miamis lead was 12 early in the third before Washington went on a 10-0 run, with Gortat scoring the first eight and Trevor Bookers jumper getting the Wizards within 59-57. And after Miami rebuilt the lead to seven, Washington took off on another quick burst, this one enough to give the Wizards their first lead since 1-0. In less than 2 minutes, Washington outscored Miami 11-0, Webster scoring six in 25 seconds. He head-faked James in the air to start what became a four-point play, then had an alley-oop dunk off a Wall pass on the next possession as Washington took a 65-64 lead. "I think we match up with those guys perfect," Wall said. "We battle those guys." Allen had two 3s for the Heat late in the third, and it was 73-all entering the fourth. The Wizards scored only 17 points in the final 12 minutes. "We saw a few things," Wade said, "and we were able to take advantage." NOTES: Gortat had never grabbed more than nine rebounds in a quarter. Hes the 12th player with 10 boards in a quarter this season. ... Washington missed its first six shots, as Miami took a 10-1 lead. ... March 10 matches the second-earliest date for Miami clinching a playoff spot. The Heat did it on March 8 last season. ... Heat F Udonis Haslem made his 700th regular-season appearance. ... Washington outrebounded Miami 50-33. ' ' '