CINCINNATI – On a night when they were nearly blanked for a Major League-leading 17th time, the Reds were once again reminded of what a playoff team looks like across the field in the other dugout.
In their own dugout, during a 4-1 loss to the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park, there was no sense of playoffs. Just frustration of what might have been this season.
The only thing standing between the Reds and another goose egg was a monumental home run from Elly De La Cruz with one out in the ninth. The 98 mph fastball from Evan Phillips was actually above the strike zone. De La Cruz crushed it a Statcast-projected 457 feet, the third-longest home run of his career and the longest by a Red this season.
“Maybe I'll pick it up on the way home,” joked Reds manager Terry Francona. “That's pretty impressive. It’d be a lot more fun to talk about if it put us ahead … but it was still impressive.”
The homer, De La Cruz’s 27th, soared into the alley between the bleachers in right-center and the right tall stack as fans looked into the back of the stands to get a glimpse of the ball actually landing. It also extended De La Cruz’s season-long on-base streak to 21 games, the longest active streak in MLB and the second-longest of his career.
But for highlights, that was it for the Reds.
The real frustration of this season was encapsulated by starter Nick Lodolo coming out after six innings, allowing four runs on just three hits. He went over to the ball bag and slammed his right hand into it twice out of anger.
The reason?
Free passes. Lodolo walked four and struck out four while allowing four runs on just three hits in seven innings.
“I think [two of the] walks I had scored,” Lodolo said. “Obviously not every walk you have is going to score every night, but it's something that this year that has killed me. I was just frustrated with it.”
“Oh, I don't care. I don't,” Francona said of Lodolo's reaction. “I care what they do on the mound. I don't care about hitting the ball bag.
“Three hits, but you know, two of them left the ballpark, [and one] after a walk. But still ... it's a dangerous team over there. We got behind the wrong guy.”
Lodolo (3-5) made two mistakes on the night. A 1-0 fastball left up to Kyle Tucker, who crushed it down the right-field line for a 1-0 Dodgers lead in the second. His second mistake -- a first-pitch 91.6 mph fastball that Teoscar Hernández lifted just over the fence in right-center for a two-run roundtripper and a 3-0 Dodgers lead in the fourth, after a walk to Tucker.
That was more than enough for Tarik Skubal (10-7), the big addition that the Dodgers traded for at the Deadline. He blanked the Reds on three hits, striking out nine and walking one in seven innings.
“Obviously, one of the best pitchers in the league, if not the best,” Lodolo said. “So you know that going into the game. But regardless who's on the other side, I'm more worried about doing my job and letting our guys handle that. My job is to keep us in the game, give us a chance to win. ... When a guy's rolling like that, you're trying to match it.”
Before the tape-measure blast from De La Cruz in the ninth, the Reds had one threat all night. In the fifth, they had Juan Brito at third and JJ Bleday at second with two outs. But Skubal fanned Héctor Rodríguez to keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard.
Frustration has been a common theme in the past week, as the Reds have dropped six of their past seven games, including four to the Dodgers.
Ironically, the win by the Dodgers Monday night at Great American Ball Park clinched their 14th straight playoff appearance. In those 14 years, the Reds have qualified for the playoffs just three times, including last year, when the Dodgers started their run to a second straight World Series title with a two-game sweep of the Reds in the NL Wild Card round.