The Dodgers didn’t just finish off the Reds on Wednesday. They turned the game into a full-on showcase, rolling to a 14-1 win that completed a three-game sweep and pushed their winning streak to a season-high seven straight.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto set the tone early and never really let Cincinnati breathe. He worked around a lone first-inning baserunner, then kept stacking zeros while the Dodgers’ bats started to crack the game open behind him.
By the time he was done, he had thrown seven innings on 90 pitches, allowed three hits and struck out 10, tying a career high. It was his first quality start of September, his fifth straight outing with at least eight strikeouts, and his 13th win of the season, another new career best.
The Dodgers gave him just enough early support before the floodgates opened. Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker opened the second with back-to-back singles, and after Hunter Feduccia reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases, Alex Freeland’s ground ball ended in a 4-6-3 double play - but Hernández still crossed the plate to put Los Angeles ahead. In the third, Will Smith doubled and Mookie Betts followed with his third home run of the homestand to stretch the margin to 3-0.
Then Elly De La Cruz answered for Cincinnati. Yamamoto had been nearly spotless through his first 10 batters, with the Sal Stewart single the only hit against him, until De La Cruz stepped in with one out in the fourth and launched a home run for a fifth straight game. That gave him a career-high 26 homers and got the Reds on the board.
The Dodgers responded immediately, and then some. Tucker and Feduccia led off the bottom of the fourth, Freeland drove in his first run since being called back up with an RBI double, and Kiké Hernández followed with the third double of the inning to bring in two more.
Lowder was chased after just 3 1/3 innings. A wild pitch from Luis Mey plated another run, and Teoscar Hernández capped the six-run frame with a two-run single.
By the time the inning ended, the Dodgers had turned a 1-0 game into an 8-1 rout.
They weren’t finished. After coming up empty in the fifth, Max Muncy hammered a two-run homer in the sixth to push the lead into double digits, giving the Dodgers their first double-digit advantage since the All-Star break. The 11 runs they had on the board at that point were their most in a home game since they scored 12 against the San Diego Padres on July 2.
Kiké Hernández added even more damage in the seventh, blasting a two-run homer off Tony Santillan. It was his first homer since August 19, and his first of the year against a pitcher not named Kyle Freeland.
Betts finished 3-for-5, and over the nine-game homestand he hit .375 with three homers and 13 RBI. His season OPS climbed from .698 at the start of September to .742, and he stretched his on-base streak to 18 games.
Teoscar Hernández kept rolling, too. He extended his hitting streak to 10 games and is hitting .514 over that stretch with two homers and 14 RBI, while his season OPS has jumped from .692 entering the final game of August to .761.
Tucker also had a big night, collecting a double, a single and a home run in the eighth for his first multi-hit game since Aug. 19. It was the first time all season he has had multiple home runs in a single homestand.
With the win, the Dodgers moved four full games ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the second seed in the National League, while still trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by 1 1/2 games for the top spot.
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