Dodgers bash 4 homers, breeze past Reds
LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers used a five-run second inning to beat the Reds, 8-3, on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
Yasiel Puig started the scoring for the Dodgers with a solo home run in the second, and Kiké Hernandez would go deep with a three-run shot later in the inning. The third inning started much the same way as Justin Turner led off with his 14th homer of the season. Reds starter David Holmberg (1-2) was roughed up in two-plus innings by allowing five hits and seven runs while walking four.
Brett Anderson wasn't particularly sharp for the Dodgers, but earned his seventh win of the season. Anderson allowed a two-run home run to Todd Frazier in the first inning, but allowed just one run in the next five frames as the Dodgers' offense gave him a cushion.
"From that point forward, he really recovered and kept battling," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "I thought he was solid for us. It's kind of what he's been doing. He kept us in the game."
Video: CIN@LAD: Anderson goes six strong to earn the win
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Frazier ties career high: The game started optimistically for the Reds when Joey Votto hit a two-out single in the first inning and was followed by Frazier's two-run homer to right field on a first pitch by Anderson. For Frazier, it was his 29th homer of the season and it equals the career high he set in 2014. Frazier reached in all four plate appearances as he also had a single, a walk and reached on an error. More >
Home run flurry: The Dodgers tied a season-high with four home runs as their Nos. 2-5 hitters each put one out of the park. Two came in a breakout five-run second inning: Puig got the Dodgers on the board with a solo homer, his 10th of the year and sixth since the All-Star break, and Hernandez later launched a three-run shot to cap the inning. More >
"We needed runs early to get back on the board and Kike´'s home run kind of put us in the driver's seat," said Adrian Gonzalez, who had a home run of his own in the fourth. "After that, we just kind of kept adding on."
Video: CIN@LAD: Dodgers club four homers in win vs. Reds
Hatcher comes back strong: Chris Hatcher pitched a clean ninth inning to close out the Dodgers' win in his first appearance since June 14. It was an encouraging return for the right-hander, who had been struggling -- he had a 6.38 ERA and 1.58 WHIP before he went on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. His rehab appearances were just as rocky, but with the Dodgers holding an 8-3 lead, this was an ideal, low-pressure situation for them to ease Hatcher back into action.
"It was good. Obviously it's something you want for a guy that's struggled a little bit," Mattingly said of Hatcher's scoreless frame. "He used his split, he used his slider today -- he's another guy that has to use his secondary pitches and sequence himself."
Video: CIN@LAD: Mattingly on 8-3 win over Reds, outfielders
Dodgers strike in second inning: The Dodgers' offense plated five runs in the second inning to take a lead the club wouldn't relinquish. Puig got on the board with his 10th home run of the season and his sixth since the All-Star break. Holmberg walked a pair and Jimmy Rollins chipped in a two-out RBI single before Hernandez's three-run homer capped off the big inning.
Video: CIN@LAD: Dodgers put up five runs in the 2nd
Holmberg never settles: Not only did Holmberg give up leadoff homers in the second and third innings, he did not respond well to either setback. He walked back-to-back batters in the second after Puig's full-count homer and issued two free passes in the third following Turner's long ball that also came on a 3-2 pitch.
"I was not pleased with my performance tonight," Holmberg said. "I would have liked to have kept that 2-0 lead we had. I was not getting ahead of guys. I wasn't throwing a lot of strikes. I wasn't throwing a lot of quality pitches. That's not [how] you get guys out."
QUOTABLE
"I would call it just a bad game. He just didn't have it tonight. He didn't have a feel for his location. He didn't have great stuff and the Dodgers took advantage of it." -- Reds manager Bryan Price on Holmberg
"Early it was a little struggle, it was hot, the ball was flying and Frazier ambushed me with a fastball and you tip your hat to Joey Votto, he's a good hitter. But I thought my stuff was good. Once my velo decreased later on, I got some more movement on the ball so it was kind of a tale of two games." -- Anderson on his performance
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
With Puig's 10th home run, the Dodgers have eight different players with double-digit homers this season.
Video: CIN@LAD: Puig cranks a solo dinger in the 2nd
UNDER FURTHER REVIEW
On a force play at second base, Rollins flipped to Hernandez, who dropped the ball. The runner was initially ruled safe on the play but after the Dodgers challenged, the replay showed that Hernandez had lost the ball while transferring it to his hand, and the call was overturned.
Video: CIN@LAD: Rollins makes a nice flip to get the out
WHAT'S NEXT
Reds: Anthony DeSclafani, who leads the Reds' rookie rotation with 23 starts this season, will pitch in Sunday's 4:10 p.m. ET series finale. DeSclafani was given two extra days of rest following his six-inning no-decision on Sunday at Arizona.
Dodgers: The Dodgers close out the four-game series and their seven-game homestand with Zack Greinke. The right-hander leads the Majors with a 1.59 ERA and comes off six scoreless innings against the Nationals in his last start. Greinke has earned the win in seven of his last eight starts.
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