Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was hopeful Justin Turner’s return would provide a spark for an offense the second-year manager said had become ‘sporadic’ of late. Sure enough, Turner hit a home run in his first at-bat since coming off the disabled list.
Turner’s shot to the Dodgers bullpen spotted Rich Hill a 2-0 lead. The Cincinnati Reds managed to cut that in half the following inning. It was the lone run Hill allowed over five innings. Despite some command issues, he came away from the outing encouraged.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third, Austin Barnes’ chopper went for an RBI infield single. Jake Buchanan’s throwing error allowed another run to score, and the Dodgers’ lead grew to 4-1.
Then with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Franklin Gutierrez delivered a two-run single. That gave the struggling outfielder his first multi-hit game this season.
Kiké Hernandez added a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. Of his 29 hits this season, 21 have gone for extra bases — 15 doubles, one triple and five home runs.
Kenta Maeda made his first career relief appearance and proceeded to convert the Dodgers’ second four-out save this season. Maeda was perfect from the sixth through eighth innings, complete with five strikeouts.
He allowed a solo home run to Joey Votto to lead off the ninth, and back-to-back two-out singles before closing out the 7-2 victory.
