Not long after the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers began the second of their three-game series, the San Francisco Giants were handed a loss by the New York Mets. While it pulled the Dodgers even with the Giants in the National League West standings, that was the lone positive at the time.
Brandon Finnegan worked around a Kiké Hernandez one-out walk in first inning. Looking to bounce back from a short and subpar 2016 debut, Brett Anderson suffered a fate similar to that of Bud Norris from the previous night.
Billy Hamilton led off the bottom of the first with a single to center and immediately stole second base. Jose Peraza singled to left, then Joey Votto’s chopper to first base went for an RBI infield single.
Adam Duvall landed the big blow, clubbing a three-run homer to give the Reds a 4-0 lead. Eugenio Suarez doubled with two outs but it didn’t amount to anything. After retiring the side in order in the second, Finnegan led off the bottom half of the inning with a double.
He scored two batters later on Peraza’s base hit to right field. Chris Taylor and Anderson both struck out swinging in the third inning. Howie Kendrick kept the inning alive by drawing a four-pitch walk, but Hernandez grounded into a force out.
Scott Schebler beat the shift with a squib single up the third-base line, though pressed his luck and was thrown out by Taylor on his attempt to stretch it to a double. After Suarez walked, Ramon Cabrera hit back to the box to end the inning.
Anderson walked Finnegan to start the fourth, then was removed after throwing a wild pitch that sailed to the backstop. The Dodgers later announced that was due to a blister on Anderson’s left index finger.
Grant Dayton entered and allowed a three-run homer to Peraza before getting out of the inning. Finnegan retired the Dodgers in order in the fifth, holding them without a hit to that point. Cincinnati loaded the bases on Josh Fields in the bottom half of the inning, and had a run come across on a walk.
Finnegan carried his no-hitter into the seventh inning, when it was broken up by Adrian Gonzalez on a leadoff single. While the Dodgers had their first hit, nothing came of it as he retired the next three batters.
The game then went into a rain delay that lasted more than one hour. Play resumed with Joe Blanton on the mound and he worked around a two-out single to end the seventh inning. A Tony Renda double and Duvall single extended the Reds’ lead to 9-0 in the eighth.
J.P. Howell’s troubles didn’t stop there, as Schebler lined a two-run homer to center field. Seager singled with one out in the ninth and Turner followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position.
Rob Segedin ensured the Dodgers wouldn’t be shutout, bringing Seager in on a groundout to shortstop. That was all they would get as Joc Pederson was called out on strikes to end the game. Cincinnati’s 11-1 victory handed the Dodgers a third consecutive loss.
