CINCINNATI — One night after Tarik Skubal silenced the Reds, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took his turn. But considering how this season has gone offensively, seemingly every game is get-right night for the opposing pitcher.
Yamamoto allowed only one hit across seven scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated Cincinnati 4-0 Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.
The loss was Cincinnati’s seventh in its last eight games.
Los Angeles took the lead during the second inning when Hunter Feduccia singled home Max Muncy. Teoscar Hernández added two more runs in the third, launching a Rhett Lowder pitch over the left-field wall for his 15th home run of the season.
Lowder prevented further damage and completed five innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four. It was an improvement over his previous start against Los Angeles, when the Dodgers scored seven runs against him in only 3? innings. Unfortunately, Cincinnati’s offense provided absolutely no support.
Elly De La Cruz recorded the Reds’ only hit against Yamamoto, doubling with two outs in the third. Yamamoto responded by retiring the next 13 Cincinnati batters and 21 of the final 22 he faced.
He finished with seven strikeouts and two walks while throwing 91 pitches.
Alex Freeland extended Los Angeles’ lead to 4-0 with a solo homer off Pierce Johnson during the seventh inning. Julian Aguiar, Graham Ashcraft and Tejay Antone each contributed a scoreless inning from Cincinnati’s bullpen.
De La Cruz added a single against Brock Stewart in the eighth, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk. Juan Brito collected Cincinnati’s only other hit during the ninth.
The Reds finished with three hits and struck out 11 times. Sal Stewart, Eugenio Suárez and Matt McLain combined to go 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts.
Cincinnati has now scored one run across the first two games of the series. De La Cruz has accounted for four of the Reds’ seven hits and their only RBI.
What’s Next: Cincinnati continues its four-game series Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. ET. Andrew Abbott is scheduled to start for the Reds.
