The Cincinnati Reds traveled to Los Angeles Thursday to play the Dodgers in a four game series. The month of May hasn’t been kind to Cincinnati, having not won a series since sweeping the LA Angels on April 21st.
Game 1:
Thursday night looked like the offense was finally coming alive as Elly De La Cruz had a massive night. Elly would go off on Thursday night, having 4 hits, 4 stolen bases and 3 runs scored.
Will Benson got the night started with a bang with a no doubt leadoff bomb (6) to right field. The homerun ball clocked at 107.5mph off the bat and hit 439ft gave the Reds a 1-0 lead. De La Cruz would single, steal 2nd and score off a Tyler Stephenson double giving the Redlegs a 2-0 lead. Brent Suter would be used as an opener and he would face 3 Dodger hitters giving up a walk to Shohei Ohtani and recording two outs. Emilio Pagan would come in and get the final out of the inning. Elly De La Cruz would lead off the 3rd with an automatic double to left field and proceed to steal 3rd base. Tyler Stephenson would single to bring in De La Cruz for a 3-0 lead. Elly would walk in the top of the 5th and do what seems like only Elly can do. He would steal 2nd and 3rd on consecutive pitches and score on a strikeout that got away from Catcher Austin Barnes. Stuart Fairchild would play add on with a line drive to centerfield that scored Jeimer Candelario giving the Redlegs a 5-0 lead. De La Cruz would reach on an error with the bases loaded, making it 6-0. Mike Ford smoked a line drive over an outstretched Freddie Freeman adding on making it 7-0. The Reds played spoiler on Shohei Ohtani bobble head night winning 7-2.
Box score standouts:
Will Benson: 1-4 HR(6)
Elly De La Cruz: 4-4 BB, XBH, 4 SB, 3 R
Tyler Stephenson: 2-4 XBH, 2 RBI
Nick Martinez: 5.0 IP, 0 BB, 4 K
Game 2:
The Reds looked to capitalize on a strong outing Thursday, but that was not the case. Frankie Montas got the start Friday night and he has not historically pitched well against the Dodgers. Mookie Betts would leadoff for the Dodgers and launch a missile into the left field bleachers giving LA a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd Ohtani would play long ball and hit an opposite field shot to left giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Top 4, Jonathan India, would score in a Mookie Betts error leading to Spencer Steer reaching base safely making it 3-1 Dodgers. In the 5th inning Stuart Fairchild and Tyler Stephenson would both go yard tying the game up at 3, but that’s all the offense the Reds would have. The Dodgers would go on to score 2 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th to win 7-3.
Box Score Standouts:
Tyler Stephenson: 3-4 1HR
Stuart Fairchild 1-2 1HR
Frankie Montas 5IP, 3ER, 4BB, 1K
Game 3:
Saturday’s game was not a fun one for the Cincinnati Reds. Lexington Kentucky native Walker Buehler dominated the Reds lineup going 7 innings, giving up just 3 hits and striking out 7. Rookie Jacob Hurtubise would get his 1st career hit on a single to center in the 3rd inning off Buehler. Hurtubise, a West Point graduate, would get his first knock on Armed Forces Day. Graham Ashcraft would pitch a decent game going 5.0 innings, giving up 3 earned runs striking out 5 but would walk 3. The story of the game, and really the month of May, is the lack of run support for Reds starting pitchers.
Box Score Standouts:
Will Benson: 1-4
Jake Fraley: 1-3
Jacob Hurtubise: 1-3
Graham Ashcraft: 5.0 IP, 3ER, 3H, 3BB, 5K
Game 4:
Sunday, Hunter Greene would take the mound for Cincinnati in hopes of splitting the series.
Unfortunately for Greene, the long ball would plague him as the only runs he gave up this afternoon were on a 2 run home run to Andy Pages in the 4th. Santiago Espinal would hit an RBI double in the 5th inning scoring Stuart Fairchild making the score 2-1 Dodgers. In the 7th, Spencer Steer would draw a bases loaded walk to tie the game but that’s all the scoring the Reds would muster. Greene was dominant Sunday giving up only 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched, only allowing 2 runs on 8 strike outs. Shohei Ohtani would get the glory hitting a walk off single in extras to give the Dodgers the win, along with the series win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Box Score Standouts:
Jacob Hurtubise: 1-1 PH
Stuart Fairchild: 2-4, 1 R
Hunter Greene 6.1 IP, 4H, 8K, 2ER, 2BB
The loss now marks 7 straight series lost for Cincinnati as the they haven’t won a series since April 21st in Cincinnati against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Reds get a needed off day on Monday and return home to Great American Ball Park to face off against the San Diego Padres in a 3 game set. Andrew Abbott is slated to face off against Joe Musgrove at 6:40. Abbott comes in at 2-4 with a 3.06 ERA. The story will be if the Reds can give Abbott some run support. Abbott has a 2.65 ERA in 3 starts this month.
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