A record that dates back to the Braves rotation
Los Angeles clinched its fourteenth consecutive playoff berth in Cincinnati on Monday night, beating the Reds 4-1 and pulling level with the mark Atlanta set between 1991 and 2005. Only two franchises in the history of the sport have strung together that many.
The Dodgers, 91-59, became the third club assured of October baseball this season, behind Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. Their magic number for a fifth straight National League West title fell to three. That would be their thirteenth division crown in fourteen years, which gives some sense of how narrow the margin between the two streaks really is.
For a roster that has won the last two World Series, the clinch arrived with very little ceremony. It arrived on three hits.
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Skubal made three hits enough
Tarik Skubal worked seven scoreless innings, allowed three hits, struck out nine and walked one. The left-hander moved to 10-7 and beat Cincinnati for the second time in seven days, having given up two runs across 7 1/3 innings in a 3-2 win on September 8.
Since Los Angeles acquired him from Detroit on August 2, Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA across eight starts. That number matters more in the middle of October than it does in the middle of September, and the Dodgers paid the acquisition price with exactly that in mind.
Every one of the three hits Los Angeles collected turned into a run. Kyle Tucker opened the second by driving an inside fastball from Nick Lodolo into the right-field seats, his third home run in five games. Tucker walked with two outs in the fourth and Teoscar Hernandez followed with a homer to right-center. Kike Hernandez added an RBI single in the seventh.
Cincinnati lost a well-pitched game
Lodolo fell to 3-5 despite a line most starters would take: four runs on three hits over seven innings. Cincinnati’s answer came late and came long. Elly De La Cruz sent a 457-foot drive to center off Evan Phillips in the ninth, the longest home run by a Reds hitter this season and the longest struck at Great American Ball Park all year.
The series continues Tuesday with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 13-8 with a 2.62 ERA, facing Rhett Lowder, who carries a 6-10 record and a 5.81 ERA into the start.
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