The Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds behind a 3-1 victory on Adrian Gonzalez bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. Scott Kazmir rebounded from a poor showing in San Diego, matching a season high with 12 strikeouts, and holding Cincinnati to one run on four hits over six innings of work.
Los Angeles finished 11-9 over their stretch of 20 games in 20 days and are in the midst of a season-high four-game winning streak. What’s more, the bullpen was impressive throughout the three-game set against the Reds.
After Clayton Kershaw provided Dodgers relievers with a night off in the series opener by throwing a complete-game shutout, the bullpen retired all 19 batters faced over 6.1 innings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While the Dodgers came away with a win in the series finale, it was the Reds who struck first. Following a Brandon Phillips one-out single in the fourth inning, Jay Bruce hit a fly ball to center field.
Joc Pederson appeared to have a read on the deep drive, but came up empty on his leaping grab. Pederson collided with the fence, which effectively removed him from the play. However, Howie Kendrick raced over from left field to back him up, and began the relay to throw Bruce out on his attempt at an inside-the-park home run:
Phillips scored on the play, which was ruled an RBI triple. The Dodgers answered back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and tacked on another in the fifth inning.
