Reds 3, Dodgers 1: Literally the Cincinnati Reds

The Dodgers lost, again, to the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers have lost all six games they’ve played against the Reds this season. That’s bad.

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An old friend opened up the scoring in the second off Hyun-Jin Ryu. Brandon Dixon, who started at first in place of Joey Votto, hit his fifth home run of the season with one out in the second. In the third, former Dodger Scott Schebler hit his 16th dong of the season. Schebler also hit a single in the fifth, moved to second on another old friend single by Jose Peraza, and scored on a Scooter Gennett single for a third Cincinnati run. Ryu struggled his way through five innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. He did strike out six batters, but put the Dodgers behind.

Meanwhile, Luis Castillo stranded a pair of baserunners in the first inning. After Manny Machado‘s one-out single in the first, Castillo recorded 15 consecutive outs. He struck out the sides in the first and third innings and didn’t allow a baserunner until the top of the sixth inning, when Joc Pederson hit his 20th dong of the season.

Pederson’s homer made him the sixth Dodger to reach 20 dongs this season. Matt Kemp has 19, Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig each have 16.

Yasmani Grandal snapped out of his slump with a one-out double in the seventh off Castillo. He took third on a wild pitch. Alex Verdugo drew a walk, which chased Castillo from the game.

Taylor hit a fly ball and Grandal held at third, but Verdugo advanced to second. Puig worked a walk to load the bases and chase Sal Romano from the game. David Hernandez came in to face Justin Turner, who grounded to short to end the threat.

The Dodgers caught a break on a bloop single in the eighth, but Machado grounded into an inning-ending double play. In the ninth, Raisel Iglesias shut the door to save the 3-1 victory for the Reds.

The bright side is that the Dodger bullpen was good once again. Dylan Floro, Scott Alexander and Pedro Baez combined for three scoreless innings. Doesn’t do a whole lot of good when the offense only scores one run, but it was still nice to see them keep the deficit where it was.

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In case you were keeping track, Gennett has 16 hits against the Dodgers this year. In 21 ABs. 16 hits. Scooter.

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The Reds were already eliminated from playoff contention, so tomorrow will mercifully be the last time the Dodgers see them in 2018. Ross Stripling starts for the Dodgers in a bullpen game, Anthony DeSclafani starts for Cincinnati with a 9:30 start time in LA.

The Dodgers will either enter tomorrow’s game 1.5 or 2.5 games behind the Rockies in the NL West race. As of publishing, the Rockies and Diamondbacks are tied at 2. Rooting for the Diamondbacks feels so wrong.