Cincinnati Reds Have Finally Been Swept, Fall to Dodgers 5-1

The Cincinnati Reds (68-66) have suffered their first sweep of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers (77-57) finished the job on Wednesday night by the score of 5-1.

WOEFUL HITTING

The Reds figured out how to waste a home run. They were 50-26 when launching at least one long ball entering Wednesday. Noelvi Marte went yard off Shohei Ohtani (1-1, 4.18 ERA) in the third inning.

The Reds didn’t get another hit until the seventh and then managed to load the bases and strand them loaded in that inning. The eighth inning saw the Reds get runners to first and second and then leave them there. They also had guys on base and in scoring position in the ninth inning. All told, the Reds were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

ONE BIG INNING DOOMS THE REDS, AGAIN

The fourth inning saw the Dodgers amass five hits and four runs. The hits were all BABIP specials.

Two hits were in the exact same spot, perfectly in the middle of Tj Friedl, Noelvi Marte, and Matt McLain. Neither guy got close to either hit. The rest were seeing-eye ground balls that made it through the infield.

JEKYLL AND HYDE LODOLO

Nick Lodolo (8-7, 3.22) was perfect his first time through the order. He struck out five guys and looked dominant. Then, in that fateful fourth inning, he unraveled.

The second time through the order, the Dodgers batted around in one inning, doing 90% of their damage. Lodolo came out in the fifth inning but did not finish it after he hit Teoscar Hernandez with two outs.

THIS WAS THE FIRST GAME IN THE SERIES THAT THE REDS PLAYED ERROR-FREE BASEBALL

Really stretching for something positive from this game…

The Reds are now 4.5 games out of the Wild Card after the Mets finished off their sweep of the Phillies. They have an off day tomorrow before returning home for a nice long stand. First up in that stretch, the Cardinals.