INSTANT REACTION: Nick Lodolo Tosses Shutout in 5-0 Reds Win Over Nationals

CINCINNATI -- Nearly six years to the date that Nick Lodolo made his professional debut with the Reds' Single-A affiliate, the Dayton Dragons, the Reds' left-hander threw a complete game shutout Wednesday afternoon in our nation's capital, as the Reds won 5-0 to salvage a game in the series against the Washington Nationals.

Lodolo's complete game shutout is the second thrown by a Reds starting pitcher this season, and it moves the Reds to 53-50 as they head home for a crucial eight-game home-stand.

The Reds lineup backed up Lodolo with timely hitting and insurance runs in the final two innings, improving their record to 7-2 in Lodolo's last nine starts.

Let's look at the key takeaways from Wednesday afternoon's 5-0 Reds win over the Nationals.

Nick Lodolo Goes The Distance In A Shutout Effort

The Reds drafted Lodolo in the first round back in 2019. Wednesday afternoon, Lodolo was in top form in throwing the first complete game shutout of his career.

Lodolo allowed just four hits and struck out eight while throwing 105 pitches, 76 of them for strikes.

Cincinnati's left-hander is now 3-0 in his last three starts, throwing 22 combined innings with just two earned runs allowed. In addition, he has 19 strikeouts and just one walk over his last three starts. In addition, Lodolo also, technically, pitched a complete game back on June 18th against the Minnesota Twins. He pitched all six innings of a rain-shortened game, and he pitched all nine innings on Wednesday afternoon.

Now at 8-6 with a 3.09 ERA, Lodolo is giving the Reds another really good left-handed pitcher for the pennant race. Lodolo is in a great stretch, and hopefully he can continue that stretch into August and September.

Reds Offense Does Just Enough

Sometimes timely hitting is all you need to win a ball game, especially one that's as close to a must-win as Wednesday afternoon's game was.

Jake Fraley got the Reds scoring started with an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning, and the score remained 1-0 into the top of the eighth inning.

That's where the Reds added to their lead to give Nick Lodolo a greater margin for error. Noelvi Marte doubled to left to drive home Austin Hays, and Jose Trevino followed with a sacrafice fly to center to score Fraley and make it 3-0.

In the ninth inning, the Reds added two more runs on a bunt single by Matt McLain that allowed Santiago Espinal to score on a throwing error. Elly De La Cruz added an RBI on a double play ground out to make it 5-0 Reds.

The Reds lineup has gone lenghty stretches at times this season where they haven't been able to consistently generate runs. Wednesday afternoon, the Reds lineup did just enough to give Lodolo run support and salvage a game in the series.

Notes And Observations

• The Reds went the entire series without a home run, and they have not a hit a home run in five straight games.
• Cincinnati went 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
• Washington went just 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left three runners on base.
• Jake Fraley and Santiago Espinal each had two hits Wednesday afternoon.
• Nationals right-hander Mike Soroka went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just two hits and one earned run with six strikeouts, but he did allow three walks. He threw 88 pitches, 50 for strikes.

On Deck

The Reds return home for the first time since before the All-Star Break for eight games starting Friday July 25th and going through Friday August 1st.

This weekend, the Reds will take on the Tampa Bay Rays, who enter play at 53-49 going into Wednesday night. They are 6.5 games back in the American League East and a half-game out of the Wild Card race.

Nick Martinez (8-9, 4.73 ERA), Andrew Abbott (8-1, 2.13 ERA) and Brady Singer (7-8, 4.84 ERA) will start against Tampa Bay on Friday (7:10 E.T.), Saturday (6:40 E.T.) and Sunday (1:40 E.T.) with all three games on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700WLW.

Next week, the Reds welcome the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers Monday-Wednesday. All three games are at 7:10 E.T. on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700WLW, with Wednesday's game on MLB Network in out-of-market areas.

The Reds' home stand will conclude with the Atlanta Braves coming in next Thursday and Friday before the Bristol Motor Speedway Classic on Saturday, August 2nd. Thursday's game against Atlanta will be at 7:10 E.T., with Friday's at 12:40 E.T. for travel purposes. Both of those games are on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700WLW.