LOS ANGELES — The Cincinnati Reds’ trip to Los Angeles ended with a thud. But then again, this season has been a thud. Or rather, a dud.
The Dodgers scored six times in the fourth inning and continued piling on from there, completing a three-game sweep of Cincinnati with a 14-1 victory Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles brought home its first of very many runs against Rhett Lowder in the second inning when Alex Freeland grounded into a double play that scored Teoscar Hernández. An inning later, Mookie Betts homered to make it 3-0.
Cincinnati’s only response came from the same player who has carried its offense throughout the road trip, and most of the season.
Elly De La Cruz led off the fourth with his 26th home run of the season, sending a Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch over the center-field wall. De La Cruz has now homered in five consecutive games. Just as the Bengals have squandered years during Burrow's prime, so too are the Reds with Elly.
But Elly's home run only seemed to anger the two-time defending World Series champions because they responded in a big way in the bottom half of the inning.
Freeland doubled home Kyle Tucker before Enrique Hernández drove in two more with a double to left. Luis Mey replaced Lowder but could not stop the bleeding. A wild pitch scored Hernández, and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run single that pushed Los Angeles’ lead to 9-1.
Lowder was charged with seven runs on seven hits and two walks over 3? innings. He struck out four while throwing 72 pitches.
The Dodgers added two more runs in the sixth on Max Muncy’s 27th home run before Enrique Hernández launched a two-run shot in the seventh. Tucker completed the demolition with a solo homer off emergency reliever José Trevino in the eighth.
Yamamoto had no trouble protecting the enormous lead. The right-hander held Cincinnati to one run on three hits over seven innings, matching his Major League career high with 10 strikeouts. Blake Treinen and Seth Halvorsen finished the game without allowing another run.
Sal Stewart, the only other Red to give consistent production this year, recorded two of Cincinnati’s six hits, while De La Cruz supplied the Reds’ only extra-base hit and RBI.
Cincinnati was outscored 23-6 during the three-game sweep and fell to 69-77. After losing three straight to one of baseball’s best teams, the Reds will now travel to Milwaukee to face another division leader.
Good times.
What’s Next: The Reds open a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at American Family Field. Andrew Abbott is scheduled to face Shane Drohan, with first pitch set for 7:45 p.m. ET.
