The Los Angeles Dodgers continued to struggle on their homestand, falling 6-5 to the Cincinnati Reds in a second consecutive loss. After going 6-3 on a road trip out of the All-Star break, the Dodgers have lost three of four games at Dodger Stadium.
Like he has since making his MLB debut, Elly De La Cruz immediately provided a spark for the Reds. De La Cruz’s leadoff triple led to a run on a groundout, and the Reds went on to hit for the cycle in the first inning. It included Jake Fraley hitting a two-run homer off Bobby Miller.
To Miller’s credit, he kept the Reds off the scoreboard the rest of the way while getting through five innings. He finished with six strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter, but was saddled with the loss.
Freddie Freemans’ one-out walk in the bottom of the first inning led to a run when J.D. Martinez doubled. The Dodgers drew closer after Amed Rosario’s leadoff double in the fourth inning was cashed in by Miguel Rojas on a single.
However, the Dodgers also ran themselves out of the inning. Rojas was caught between first base and second base, which prompted Chris Taylor to break for home in effort to prevent the tag out. Taylor wound up getting caught in the rundown.
It was one of many costly sequences for the Dodgers. They went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, left eight on base and hit into three double plays.
After a scoreless inning from Ryan Brasier, Yency Almonte struggled in the seventh. He surrendered a home run to Spencer Steer and allowed the Reds to score twice more with the bases loaded on a hit by pitch and walk. That snapped a string of 15 consecutive appearances in which Almonte did not allow an earned run.
Dodgers comeback effort
Despite some of their offensive struggles and empty at-bats, the Dodgers put a rally together in the bottom of the seventh.
Freeman delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded, and Rosario continued to impress in his Dodgers debut with an RBI base hit before the rally came to an end.
The Dodgers had the tying run reach second base with two outs in the eighth inning, only for Mookie Betts to ground out.
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