Fighting off a small early-season slump, outfielder A.J. Pollock provided all the firepower the Dodgers needed on Wednesday afternoon, as Los Angeles cruised to a 3-2 victory over the Reds and swept the three-game series in the process.
The Dodgers now find themselves in the middle of a four-game winning streak.
Pollock’s two-run shot to center came off of Cincinnati starter Sonny Gray in the bottom of the sixth inning. Scoring on the play were Austin Barnes and Cody Bellinger, who both reached base on walks by Gray.
Pollock’s blast also allowed the Dodgers match a MLB record—32 consecutive home games with a home run.
In his fourth start of the year, righty Walker Buehler looked sharp, allowing just one run on three hits and one walk while striking out eight. Buehler threw 92 pitches over 6-1/3 innings.
Scott Alexander and Pedro Baez combined to finish off the seventh without any damage. Baez also threw the entire eighth inning, but ran into a bit of trouble after hitting former teammate Kyle Farmer.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth to record his fifth save of the season. Jansen encountered a problem when second baseman Enrique Hernandez apparently lost a Yasiel Puig pop-out in the sun. Puig later advanced to third on an errant throw by Barnes and scored on a Matt Kemp sacrifice fly to left field.
Gray took the loss after going an even six innings. The right-hander allowed all three Los Angeles runs on two hits and two walks while striking out nine.
Aside from Pollocks homer, Bellinger and Alex Verdugo added singles for Los Angeles. The Dodgers were limited to a total of three hits on the afternoon.
Puig, Kemp and Jose Iglesias had the only hits for the Reds. Yasiel scored his first run of the game when Eugenio Suarez grounded into a fielders choice to shortstop Chris Taylor in the top of the seventh frame.
Immediately following the game, the Dodgers packed their bags and set off for Milwaukee, where they will begin a four-game set against the Brewers on Thursday. Milwaukee stole two of three from Los Angeles last weekend at Dodger Stadium.
Stay tuned on Friday morning as we plan on putting together a concise preview of the Milwaukee series.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
We finally win a pitchers duel. Nice to see Buehler back in form. We’ve proven we can beat the bad and average teams. Now can we beat quality teams. This road trip will give us a better picture of where we stand.
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Good point. Yelich will be salivating, I’m sure.
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A Yeli Belli showdown!!!!!!
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The files containing The Schlossman Report, which was originally scheduled to be released after the 20th game of the season, have mysteriously vanished from my hard drive. An investigation has since ensued.
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Breaking News – Both CNN and Fox have simultaneously announced that AG Barr will be including information on the Schlossman Report during his press conference on the Mueller Report tomorrow morning. Sources say that any references to Yasiel Puig, Kevin Quackenbush or Clem Labine will have been redacted.
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So all the proof that Bob Van Scoyoc learned all his “tricks” from the Cubans will be untouched?
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I’m sorry, there will be no further comments from the Commissioner’s office until the press conference tomorrow. There will be a Spanish translation for those who need it.
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Will Smith is hitting .355/.512/.806 over his first 31 AB at OKC.
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We really have an embarrassment of riches at catcher. I suppose Ruiz is considered our best catching prospect by a slim margin over Smith at this point, but we also have Connor Wong, Diego Cartaya and Hunter Feduccia (who has gotten off to a blazing start at GL). Just think, if four of those guys turn out to be disappointments, we’ll still have the fifth guy, whomever that might be. Catchers who can both field and hit are a fairly rare commodity and we’re hoarding them. That may come in very handy as early as this July.
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If Martin is out past the 10 days then they need to bring Smith up. Rocky Gale is is a good defensive backup catcher but he’s got no bat to the point they are starting Barnes 4 out out of every 5 games. They will burn him out quick like that. It would be a nice couple weeks to let him get his feet wet in the big leagues.
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Everyone including me was worried about losing all the power that Puig and Kemp provided, who would have thought we would be smashing the ball like we have. I predicted Joc and Barnes to break out this year but I never imagined it would be this good. Joc seriously could lead the league in HR this year if he plays everyday and Barnes has more than found his bat to go with his excellent defense. He very well could be an all star this year. I love this team for some reason. More than some of the other recent very successful teams we had. It just feels like they finally found their right mixture. I would love the bullpen to get going and I believe they will with Stripling and Urias’ help. I really think Jamie Schultz needs to be given a chance too. His stuff is electric and he’s always been a strikeout machine. I would DFA Yimi Garcia in a second to bring Schultz up.
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I like Schultz’s stuff as well. He could play a big role for us later in the year. Our 2019 Morrow!
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We can beat the sub .500 teams. The Reds aren’t very good. Going to Milwaukee and Chicago will be a challenge. Feels like the pitching is coming together. The offense will remain hot and cold as long as we strike out as much as we do.
I didn’t even know Schultz had pitched this year. If he can find the strike zone he should be fine. He’s only 5’10”, which is unusual for a Major League pitcher. At 205 he must be put together.
I’m not as connected as I have been in the past. This moving thing is a pain in the ass.
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Scoop where are you moving to?
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Lake Forest Rich. We’re here putting it together. Should be moved in by Memorial Day. Hope so anyway. I want all this behind me.
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