Reds @ Dodgers September 9, 2026: Yamamoto looks to pitch the Dodgers to a sweep with Ohtani, Freeman out of the lineup

Alex Campos 09/09/2026 Game Threads Leave A Comment

The Dodgers (88-57) won another one-run game last night, holding off the Elly De La Cruz for a 3-2 win. Tarik Skubal pitched into the eighth inning for the first time as a Dodger and despite Elly hitting one of the most impressive homers I’ve seen in a while and throwing a ball 102MPH to throw out Teoscar Hernandez, the Dodgers came away with a win. It gave the Dodgers their sixth straight win and sets them up for a chance tonight to finish off their third sweep in the last six series. In standings-watch, the Dodgers are currently 10.5 up on the Diamondbacks (who are currently rain delayed in KC) and the Padres (who won earlier). They’re 1.5 back of Milwaukee for the top seed in the NL (they’re just starting their game against the Cubs) and three up on Atlanta for the two-seed and the first-round bye (Atlanta’s losing 3-0 to Tampa in the second inning at the time of me scheduling this).

Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his 26th start of the season for the Dodgers and is coming off a strong start that ended quite poorly against the Cardinals. Yamamoto faced the minimum through five no-hit innings, erasing his lone walk on a double play before things started to unwind in the sixth. Jose Fermin led off the sixth with a single, and Thomas Saggese hit his 47th homer of that series against the Dodgers (don’t fact check that) to cut the Dodger lead to one. Mookie Betts homered to give Yama a 5-2 lead and Yamamoto remained in for the seventh, where he gave up a Jordan Walker double and Leo Bernal homer to make it 5-4. He did get out of the inning after giving up another single and in two innings, went from a no-hitter to a four-run, five hit outing. It was only the third time in 26 starts that Yamamoto’s allowed more than three runs in a game and it was also the third time he’s allowed multiple homers in a game this season. Yamamoto’s seen the Reds three times in his career, twice in the regular season. Both of those starts came in Cincinnati and he’s allowed five runs and 10 hits in 12 innings there. He also started Game 2 of the NLDS last year against the Reds and gave up two runs (both unearned after a Teoscar Hernandez error) in 6 2/3 innings.

Rhett Lowder gets his 26th appearance and 23rd start of the season tonight. Lowder was the Reds No. 2 prospect on MLB Pipeline in 2024 and 2025 and lived up to that promise in his 2024 call-up. Lowder made six starts in 2024 and posted a 1.14 ERA in 30 2/3 innings, with four scoreless outings in six starts. Lowder didn’t pitch in the Majors in 2025 due to a couple injuries (forearm, oblique) and has struggled this season with a 5.43 ERA in 116 innings. Lowder’s only struck out 90 batters in 116 innings and has topped five strikeouts in a game only four times this season. He’s coming off a rough start against the Brewers where he allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits and four walks with only two strikeouts.

Lowder throws four pitches between 20 and 30 percent of the time. He’s led with a sinker this season (29.1 percent) and mixes in a slider (26.5 percent), four-seamer (21.2 percent) and change (20.6 percent). Lowder leans on the four-seamer and change more often against lefties and almost exclusively throws the sinker/slider against righties.

Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman are both out of the lineup today. Lowder’s a righty so Alex Freeman starts at second and Enrique Hernandez gets the start at first. Will Smith DH’s with Hunter Feduccia starting behind the plate.

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More on Ohtani and Freddie.

Ohtani felt something after a swing on Monday and is out of the lineup for a second consecutive day. They might still place him on the IL.

Freeman’s knee has been an issue, so he’s completely out of the lineup today after DHing last night. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts last night, but Dave Roberts said is injury isn’t an IL situation. And when the Dodgers say that, they mean it.

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Roki Sasaki threw a sim game today.

Sasaki could return to the rotation next week as the Dodgers go on the road for their trip outside of California this season. They head to Miami for three this weekend and face the Reds in Cincinnati next Monday-Thursday, so he’d likely return at some point in that Reds series.

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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.

About Alex Campos

I've been writing about the Dodgers since I graduated from Long Beach State, where I covered the Dirtbags in my senior year. I'm either very good or very bad at puns.
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