The Cincinnati Reds season ended in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. The Reds had opportunities and could not get through with them, while the Dodgers seemed to take advantage of many of their chances given to them when they won an 8-4 victory to sweep the series and continue in the play-offs.
On a day when the previous three games all saw the team that Game One lost in Game Two, Cincinnati was able to exert early pressure on Los Angeles with the help of the Dodgers. Spencer Steer got a 1st inning rally started when he was hit by a throw. Gavin Lux hit a weak grounder to second base that led to a force. Austin Hays then hit a loop fly along the right field line, but Enrique Hernandez made it look off his glove and then roll in error territory so that Lux could reach the third and Hays to second base. That brought Sal Stewart on the board and he hit the ball just hard enough and in exactly the right angle to get his heels grounder through a diving first baseman and in the right field for a 2-run single to lead the Reds.
Zack Littell received Shohei Ohtani to land to lead the bottom of the 1st, but then saw Mookie Betts double in the left field. He would stroke him there by hitting Freddie Freeman and then getting a fly out to end the inning.
The Dodgers would get things rolling in the 3rd inning when Ben Rortvedt doubled to start the inning. He would come to score on a 1-out single from Mookie Betts who cut the Reds lead. Matt McLain may have saved a point on a diving stop on a grounder that he could become in the next game. Littell would then cause Teoscar Hernandez to let the frame ground and end and to hold the lead.
In the 4th inning, Los Angeles’ attack immediately came back to it. Max Muncy led with a single one. He would then score on a 1-out double from Enrique Hernandez to bind the game. Miguel Rojas then held a single in the right field to place the go-ahead run. That ended the day before Littell and saw Nick Lodolo enter the game from the Bullpen. He would give up a bustboard before he received a fly outs from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to start both runners and end the Dodgers rally.
The top of the 6th inning saw the Reds loading the bases without outs thanks to three straight singles. Austin Hays hit a soft lining for shortstop that Mookie Betts played on one bouncing and threw home for a force. Yoshinobu Yamamoto then spread Sal Stewart and Elly de la Cruz when Cincinnati failed to produce a run in the inning and the Dodgers gave their 1-run lead.
Nick Martinez took over to Nick Lodolo when the bottom of the 6th inning began. The Dodgers got a lead -off single when a weak grounder hit the third basehous bag while Ke’bryan Hayes waited and hoped that the ball would roll wrong. Miguel Rojas then hit a hard grounder along the line, but Sal Stewart made an impressive diving stop and changed one out. The next game was initially a hard grounder for Stewart, but this time he could not complete the piece while he threw the ball through a covering Martinez put those runners on the corners. Shohei Ohtani then hit the right to extend the Los Angeles lead to 4-2. Two throws later, Mookie Betts doubled in the left field to bring another point.
That led to a hill visit by Pitching coach Derek Johnson. Although we do not know what was being discussed, the plan itself was deliberately with Freddie Freeman to load the bases to Teoscar Hernandez to get a right-wing right-wing matchup. He would double on the first throw he saw to drive in two points and make it 7-2.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto returned to the hill in the 7th when Dave Roberts wanted to avoid using his bullpen, even with a big lead. After he had a groundout to start the inning, he would walk around a strikeout to turn on two runners for Cincinnati. The Dodgers then went to the bullpen to bring in Blake Tinnen and he only needed two pitches to get a groundout to end the collection.
Tony Santillan recorded the last two of the 6th and then returned to the hill in the 7th. He would give up a single to start the collection, deliberately walk Shohei Ohtani with one and then to give up an RBI-Double to Mookie Betts while the Dodgers expanded their lead to 8-2. Chase Burns then went into the game and received back-to-back groundouts to Strand Runners on the second and third.
Cincinnati would gather in the 8th inning. Gavin Lux would follow Single Single and Austin Hays with a walk. Sal Stewart then hit a single in the right field to bring a run. Elly de la Cruz then followed a walk to load the bases. Tyler Stephenson hit a sacrificial fly to place the Reds second point of the inning and pull the team in Slam Range.
Will Benson stepped on the album and after Emmet Sheehan almost hit him with a throw, Dave Roberts walked to the hill and pulled him in the middle of the battle to bring in Lefty Alex Vesia. Terry Francona went against sending Miguel Andujar to the board for Benson, but he would spread. Matt McLain then ran to load the bases again and turn the line -up to take TJ Friedl to the plate. A battle of 7 pitch ended with Friedl who took a slider on the outside corner for strike three.
Chase Burns kept the Dodgers in the 8th of the board and sent the game to the last inning, unless the Reds could extend the game. The Dodgers sent Roki Sasaki to the hill and he dismissed the first two batters. Austin Hays appeared in error territory at the second pitch he saw, but catcher Ben Rortvedt dropped it and kept the game alive. It didn’t last that long, because Hays hit a soft line drive to Mookie Betts to end the game and in the process the Cincinnati Reds 2025 season.
Important moment of the game
Was it when the Reds had loaded the bases and no outs and could not score?
Was it when Nick Lodolo had recorded five outs on 14 throws and was taken out of the game to see Nick Martinez come in and give up four points before he was taken out of the game?
Maybe the Zack Littell left behind for the 4th inning where he gave up two points before he decided to go to the bullpen?
Notes worth mentioning
The Reds went 3-10 with runners in a score position. The Dodgers went 6-18.
Cincinnati had no extra heat in the game. The Dodgers had five.
The Reds had two players with multi-hit games (Gavin Lux and Sal Stewart each had two hits). Los Angeles had four players with multi-hit games, including a 4-hit day of Mookie Betts who also had three doubles and three beaten runs good.
Reds pitchers deliberately walked as many batters in the competition as they had strikeouts – three. The Dodgers -Districts combined for 13 strikeouts in the competition.
The loss was the 8th in a row in the play -offs for the Reds organization. With the loss of the series, it is expanding the longest non-advancement in the drought of the play-offs in North American professional places with Cincinnati that still looks at 1995 when the Reds continued after the first round. It is the longest losing series in the franchise history during the play -offs.
Since 2013, the Dodgers have now won 66 Playoff games. The Reds have won zero.
As a non-game-related comment-wilde, just thank everyone for visiting the season and at the transfer-large spread of yourself very well in the commentary section. Our reporting will not stop here at Redleg Nation because the season is over, so we hope that you will not come by every day to see what we write about, discuss, break down. We have plenty of plans out of season. We just hoped not to start in the first week of October.
Next for the Cincinnati Reds
The low season where they can hopefully improve this ball club.
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