CINCINNATI — There is a legend from the Dodgers’ offense-deficient days in the 1960s of a fan (or one of the Dodgers themselves, versions vary) greeting another with the news that Sandy Koufax had thrown another no-hitter.
“Did they win?” the other fan asks warily.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto could relate to that punchline. The Dodgers’ offense has often been unsupportive on nights when he has pitched this season – enough to wonder the same thing when he held the Cincinnati Reds to one run on four hits Monday night.
They did win. A two-run double by Shohei Ohtani and a pair of RBI singles by Teoscar Hernandez provided more offense than Yamamoto usually gets in a 5-2 victory over the Reds.
Through his 21 starts this season, the Dodgers have managed three runs or fewer 11 times. During his 20 starts before Monday, they pushed across just 33 of those runs while he was in the game.
They scored a run for him in the first inning against the Reds when Mookie Betts led off with a double and trotted home on Hernandez’s first single.
But he gave it right back in the bottom of the first, sandwiching a walk between singles by Matt McLain and Austin Hays to load the bases. A run scored on a ground out.
The Reds threatened just once more in Yamamoto’s seven innings. TJ Friedl led off the third inning with a double and moved to third when Betts and Michael Conforto didn’t communicate well on Elly De La Cruz’s pop-up to shallow left field. Betts backed off and left Conforto to make a futile dive for the ball.
No damage was done. Yamamoto struck out Hays and got Gavin Lux to pop out.
Those were the last of the four hits allowed by Yamamoto in the game. He retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, only a walk breaking the chain, and struck out nine in the game.
After some bumps in the road during May and June, Yamamoto has rediscovered his groove. Over his past six starts, he has allowed just six earned runs and 20 hits in 31⅔ innings while striking out 38.
The Dodgers didn’t get him another lead against the Reds until the fifth inning when Miguel Rojas doubled and Betts singled. Both came home when Ohtani doubled to the wall in center field.
Reds reliever Scott Barlow helped the Dodgers pull away when he walked Betts and Ohtani to start the seventh. Hernandez drove in Betts and Freddie Freeman drove in Ohtani,
Making his first appearance since returning from a forearm injury, Blake Treinen gave up two hits, walked two and allowed a run in the ninth inning before Jack Dreyer replaced him with the bases loaded and got the final out.
The Dodgers’ two wins on this trip have been closed out by players getting their first major-league saves, Ben Casparius in Boston on Friday and Dreyer on Monday.
More to come on this story.
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