The Cincinnati Reds couldn’t solve the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night, falling 3-2 in Game 2 and coming up short in their bid to take a fourth straight series.
Nick Lodolo set the tone early in the wrong direction. The left-hander was tagged for a solo home run by Will Smith in the bottom of the first, then spent much of the night working from behind after a heavy pitch count in the second inning made it clear this wasn’t going to be a deep outing.
The same problems that have been hanging around Lodolo showed up again at Dodger Stadium. Command was shaky, and he also hit batters.
The Dodgers added to their edge in the fifth when Teoscar Hernandez singled to drive in Mookie Betts from second, giving Los Angeles the lead back. Lodolo was lifted after 4.2 innings, finishing with three runs allowed, three walks and six strikeouts.
The Reds did get a jolt from Elly De La Cruz, who was the one Cincinnati hitter who consistently looked up to the moment. He launched his 25th home run of the season off Tarik Skubal and finished 2 for 4 with a two-run homer. But the rest of the lineup couldn’t keep pace.
De La Cruz also delivered the play of the night in the field. With Hernandez trying to turn a ball into an inside-the-park home run, Dane Myers misfielded it in center, and De La Cruz fired a relay throw that Statcast said reached 105.3 mph to nail Hernandez at the plate.
It was another frustrating night for Cincinnati, even if De La Cruz kept flashing the kind of all-around impact that makes him impossible to ignore.
The series wraps up Wednesday, with Rhett Lowder lined up to start for the Reds against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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