Skubal shuts the door in Cincinnati
Fourteen years running. That is where the Dodgers stand after Monday night at Great American Ball Park, a 4-1 win over the Reds that locked up another postseason berth. Tarik Skubal gave them seven scoreless innings. Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker each put one over the wall.
Los Angeles is 91-59 with 12 to play. The champagne came out in the visitors’ clubhouse.
Dave Roberts was not in the mood to enjoy it for long. “You should never take playing in the playoffs for granted,” the manager said. “The point, for me, is that we’re nowhere near our best baseball and we’ve still booked our place with 12 games to go. We’re just as hungry as we were in 2024 and 2025.”
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Two prizes still on the board
Getting in was the easy part. The Brewers sit at 93-57 with the best record in baseball, two games up on Los Angeles. The second National League bye is closer: the Dodgers lead Atlanta by 3.5 games there, with the Braves at 88-63.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the ball Tuesday. The right-hander is 13-8 with a 2.62 ERA and just shredded these same Reds, seven innings, one run, three hits, 10 strikeouts in a 14-1 rout. Start number 27 for him, more than anyone else on the staff. Career line against Cincinnati: 2-1, 2.84.
Cincinnati runs out of road
The Reds are done. Six losses in seven, a 70-80 record, eliminated. Eleven missed Octobers in 13 seasons.
Terry Francona is hunting for something to hold onto, and Elly De La Cruz keeps handing it to him. The 24-year-old shortstop hit his 27th homer Monday, a 456-foot shot in the ninth. “It’s impressive,” the manager said. “It’d be a lot more fun to talk about if it had actually put us in front.”
Rhett Lowder (6-10, 5.81 ERA) starts Tuesday night. The Dodgers hung seven runs on him in 3 1/3 innings last week.
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