The Cincinnati Reds had a 4-2 lead heading into the 7th inning, but the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to put things together against the bullpen for the home team. They would tie things up in the 7th and then take the lead in the top of the 9th as they held on for a 5-4 win on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.
Final
R
H
E
Los Angeles Dodgers (63-45)
5
11
0
Cincinnati Reds (56-52)
4
6
2
W: Diaz (1-0) L: Pagan (2-3) SV: Vesia (4)
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The game started out well for Nick Lodolo as he struck out the side in the top of the 1st inning. The next inning saw him give up a leadoff single to Freddie Freeman, but Lodolo came back with back-to-back strikeouts of the next two hitters. He couldn’t quite get out of the inning unscathed, though. Tommy Edman hit a 2-out, 2-run home run to put the Dodgers in front 2-0.
Los Angeles would threaten again two innings later when Freddie Freeman once against got things started with a single. Andy Pages then picked up a single of his own to put two men on for Tommy Edman. This time around Lodolo won the battle and struck him out to end the top of the 4th.
In the bottom of the inning the Reds offense went to work. Austin Hays walked and then scored when Jake Fraley tied the game up with a 2-run home run into the seats in right field. Noelvi Marte put Cincinnati in front with a 2-out solo home run that just cleared the wall in right.
The Reds would get right back to things in the 5th. Jose Trevino doubled to lead off the inning and back-to-back walks followed to load the bases. A grounder by Elly De La Cruz brought in a run to extend the lead to 4-2. Another single followed to load the bases again, but the Reds were unable to push across any other runs in the frame.
Nick Lodolo took the mound to begin the 6th and got Freddie Freeman to ground out. That would be the only batter he would face, ending his night with 11 strikeouts in 5.1 innings of 2-run baseball. Scott Barlow would finish out the inning to hold the 2-run lead.
Graham Ashcraft took over for the 7th inning and he got himself into trouble with a 1-out walk. Mookie Betts followed up with a single. Ashcraft would strike out Shohei Ohtani for the second out of the inning, but Will Smith blooped an RBI single into left field to cut Cincinnati’s lead to a run. Freddie Freeman came through with a soft liner into left field of his own to tie the game up.
After Tony Santillan pitched a perfect 8th inning, Emilio Pagan came out of the bullpen for the top of the 9th. He would issue a leadoff walk before getting the next two batters to fly out. But Will Smith cashed in on an RBI double off of the wall in left field to put Los Angeles up 5-4.
Cincinnati would go down easily in their half of the 9th on a strikeout, a pop up to the catcher, and a strikeout. The 5-4 win gave the Dodgers a series win with the finale still to come on Wednesday night.
Key Moment of the Game
Will Smith’s double off of the wall in the top of the 9th that brought in the go-ahead run for the Dodgers.
Notes Worth Noting
Nick Lodolo’s impressive July was capped off with 11 strikeouts in this game. In his five starts he threw 33.1 innings and gave up 21 hits, four walks, and he struck out 38 batters to go along with a 1.89 ERA.
The Reds had just two hits against the Dodgers bullpen, who threw five shutout innings on the day.
Hunter Greene had an uneven performance on his rehab assignment in Triple-A tonight where he was charged with four runs in 2.1 innings. We wrote a bit more about the outing earlier tonight if you want more details about it.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday July 30th, 7:10pm ET
Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs Nick Martinez (9-9, 4.69 ERA)
