After being shut out on Saturday afternoon, the Los Angeles Dodgers rebounded in the finale of the three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds to earn an 8-3 victory and series win.
The Dodgers starting staff has been outstanding over the last month, and left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu continued that with another superb outing against the Reds.
Ryu did not carry a no-hitter into the late innings as he had in his last two starts, but he still tossed seven shutout frames while allowing just five hits to go along with five strikeouts against just one walk.
Ryu has now thrown 31 straight scoreless innings, which is more than halfway to Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 innings. Ryu was able to lower his ERA to 1.52, which is the best in baseball.
The Dodgers offense broke out of their mini slump, slugging their way to eight runs and two homers. The first long ball of the day came off the bat of Cody Bellinger to straightaway center field in the top of the seventh. It was Bellinger’s 17th home run of the season and sixth off a left-handed pitcher.
Russell Martin added a home run of his own to center in the eighth, his second of the year. In his first season back with the Dodgers, Martin is batting a respectable .261/.397/.435.
While he didn’t hit a home run, rookie outfielder Alex Verdugo also had a strong day at the plate. He got the offense started in the top of the second when he hit an RBI double into the gap.
Verdugo then came up again in the top of the ninth inning with runners on and hit another double to drive home both runners. Verdugo is now up to 23 RBI on the season, which is tied for third on the team.
