Fittingly, in a game in which the Dodgers secured the NL West crown, they did so in the dominant manner in which they’ve won this division—this season and in many other campaigns—beating the Reds 8-2 in the final game of this road trip.
There are plenty of games in the regular season in which you can pinpoint a couple of pitches—mistakes that were hit and others that weren’t—to argue a game could’ve gone the other way. Well, this was not one of those times, as Brady Singer could not buy a strikeout
against the Dodgers, throwing less than half of his pitches inside the zone, which led to plenty of walks. And the walks were the least of his problems, as whenever Singer threw anything in the zone, it was getting hit and hit hard.
Before Elly De La Cruz could even enter the batter’s box for the first time, the Reds already trailed the Dodgers by a pair. In the top of the first, Kyle Tucker took advantage of a Freddie Freeman walk and hit a two-run bomb, crushing a low sinker right in the middle of the zone.
Because the Dodgers stranded a couple of runners who got on base in the first after that Tucker homer, the right fielder would already come back to hit again in the next frame. Tucker made it a 4-0 game with an RBI double following a Freddie Freeman RBI sac fly.
Seemingly trying to push through Singer’s struggles, the Reds kept him in there, and even in a scoreless third, the signs of trouble were evident—multiple hitters reached base, and a Josue De Paula lineout over 100 MPH was doing the heavy lifting for that only zero Singer put up on the board. It felt inevitable that in the following frame, it’d turn sideways quickly. The first six hitters to come to the plate in the fourth all reached safely, including Tucker with his third hit in as many at-bats. Josue De Paula’s RBI single made it 7-0, and Singer finally got the hook, by that point already nearing 100 pitches on the day.
As the Reds starter was running on fumes in a feeble attempt to contain the Dodgers’ offense, Justin Wrobleski was cutting it loose, as only a pitcher who knew he was in for a shorter outing would do. Sitting at 96 mph+ on his fastball and sinker—a tick and a half over his season average on the former—Wrobleski faced nine hitters and retired them all, dominating through three before handing it off to the Dodgers’ bullpen to maintain a seven-run lead. Blake Treinen contributed one inning that had the Reds’ only run—a Sal Stewart long ball—before Landon Knack came in to complete four scoreless frames, enjoying the momentum of a commanding lead to keep the Reds from making this a close contest. The final inning was left to Seth Halvorsen, who went from taking the loss yesterday to finishing the NL West-clinching game, allowing just one run—quite the turnaround for the former Colorado Rockie.
With a single, a double, and a homer after four, Tucker had multiple chances to become the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Cody Bellinger did it back in 2017 as a rookie. He even crushed one into the gap in left center, but the Reds’ defense played it cleanly, forcing him to not even be able to try a bold move by going to third—already looking gassed from all the running around the bases he had to do.
In the ninth inning of a 7-1 game, the Reds did what they should know better than to do against the Dodgers—they let a left-hander pitch to Miguel Rojas. The Dodgers’ veteran infielder didn’t forgive this offense by tacking on a run with a solo shot, his fourth of the year, all against southpaws.
Game particulars
- Home runs— Kyle Tucker (16), Miguel Rojas (4)
- WP— Landon Knack (1-0): 4 IP, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts
- LP— Brady Singer (6-15): 3.1 IP, 9 hits, 7 runs, 4 walks
Up next
The Dodgers rush back home because the Giants await, with a three-game set starting on Friday night (7:10 p.m. PT) in an exclusive broadcast on Apple TV. Tyler Glasnow starts, hoping to shake off a couple of rusty starts against the Twins and Marlins, while César Perdomo makes only his fourth appearance in the big leagues.
