[ad_1]
-
The Dodgers’ Will Smith, left, is hit by seeds thrown by teammate Andy Pages as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
1 of 27
The Dodgers’ Will Smith, left, is hit by seeds thrown by teammate Andy Pages as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES — Four times this month, Clayton Kershaw followed a Dodgers loss with a victory. On Tuesday night, he was glad to try something new.
Kershaw went five solid innings and led the Dodgers to a win, with this one coming after a victory.
The 6-3 decision over the Cincinnati Reds extended the team’s winning streak to three games and set themselves up to try for a second consecutive home sweep on Wednesday. They closed their previous homestand with a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres from Aug. 15-17.
It also kept the Dodgers one game ahead of the second-place Padres in the National League West race with San Diego beating the Seattle Mariners, 7-6, on the road.
Despite giving up a first-inning run, Kershaw set the tone with command and deception, while never topping 89.5 mph with his fastball. And yet he still recorded 12 swings and misses as he struck out six and did not walk a batter while earning his 221st career victory.
“I think the thing that’s been most impressive is his efficiency,” Manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “He’s getting strike one, he’s putting the ball in play, getting quick outs. I think he’s very cognizant of the fact that he only has so many bullets each night, and so he’s not going to waste them throwing balls.”
Of his tidy 72 pitches Tuesday, 49 were for strikes. And while he made it look like a standard Kershaw outing where he was in complete control, it was actually anything but.
“It wasn’t a great night, stuff-wise,” Kershaw said. “Didn’t have a lot of life on the fastball or really anything. (Catcher) Will (Smith) did a good job. We kind of flipped the script and just started throwing kind of a lot of different stuff, trying to be creative, keep them off balance. It wasn’t coming out tonight so good.”
He was even pitching on four days of rest for just the third time in 17 starts as the Dodgers continue to prioritize giving a full seven days between starts for Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“Just for Clayton to be open to it, to be able to adjust his schedule, has been huge,” Roberts said. “And he’s performed admirably. I mean, above that. So, yeah, the guys are all in and understand kind of what we’re dealing with, as far as a rotation, and there’s got to be a little bit of give and take.”
After Kershaw (9-2) delivered a four-start winning streak in June, he now has a five-start run, while posting a 1.88 ERA in August. He lowered his overall ERA to 3.06.
“It was a good August,” Kershaw said. “Physically everything feels good. I think everything changes from start to start sometimes. But overall, it was great. The team got a lot of wins, which was great. Fun to be a part of it this time of year.”
Utility man Kiké Hernandez made his return to the starting lineup, after missing nearly two months with left elbow inflammation, and he marked the occasion with a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.
Smith not only guided Kershaw from behind the plate, he hit a solo home run during a four-run sixth inning. His 16th home run of the season was just his second over his past 26 games dating to July 22.
The Reds scored early – on a Spencer Steer double to lead off the game and an RBI ground out from Miguel Andujar. That out started a run of 14 consecutive outs for Kershaw until his outing ended.
The Dodgers matched the run in the bottom of the first on a walk to Mookie Betts and a double from Freddie Freeman. Betts scored when the throw from left field by Austin Hays was well over the second base bag, with the ball rolling into shallow right field as Betts came home.
Smith’s home run in the sixth gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead that became 6-1 later in the inning when Miguel Rojas had a two-run double and Shohei Ohtani followed with an RBI single.
The Dodgers tagged Reds right-hander Nick Martinez with four runs on seven hits over 5⅓ innings.
“It’s been really fun to watch our guys play at the level that they’re capable of,” Roberts said of a three-game stretch that started in San Diego on Sunday afternoon. “And I’ll just say that as far as kind of the intent of energy and compete, Martinez has had our number for years. So for us to kind of put some numbers on the board against him was huge. And we had a couple big at-bats off the bench.”
Right-hander Ben Casparius gave up a two-run home run to Hays in the seventh inning before Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Tanner Scott worked the ninth for his 20th save.
While left-hander Alex Vesia went on the injured list before the game with a right oblique strain, outfielder Alex Call left the contest with a lower back strain.
“He says that he’s played through worse,” Roberts said. “But my hope was to get him in there (Wednesday), so I wanted to get him out of the game. … We’ll see how he kind of responds to treatment, but I don’t think it’s too concerning.”
Originally Published:
[ad_2]
Doug Padilla
Source link