Shohei Ohtani delivered a game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers walked away with a 3-2 victory Sunday over the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
Andy Pages hit a home run as Los Angeles won the final three games of a four-game series. The Dodgers now await a visit from the Arizona Diamondbacks, who knocked them out of last season’s playoffs.
In his Dodgers debut, Anthony Banda (1-0) held the Reds scoreless in the top of the 10th inning. Los Angeles opened the bottom of the 10th with Jason Heyward on second base, and Ohtani ripped a one-out hit to right off Cincinnati’s Alexis Diaz (1-3). It was Ohtani’s first walk-off hit as a member of the Dodgers.
Los Angeles native Hunter Greene had eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings for the Reds in his homecoming, while giving up two runs on four hits.
Santiago Espinal had an RBI double and Spencer Steer walked with the bases loaded to tie the game in the seventh inning as Cincinnati went 3-7 on a 10-game road trip. The Reds have lost 15 of their past 18 games.
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Freddie Freeman delivered a leadoff single and Pages hit a home run to left field. It was the rookie’s fifth of the season.
Los Angeles right-hander Landon Knack fared well in his return to the major leagues, and he was charged with one run on three hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. Knack was recalled earlier Sunday after making his major league debut last month.
Knack left in the fifth inning, one batter after giving up an RBI double to Espinal. The Dodgers called on Ryan Yarbrough for his first outing in a week and the left-hander ultimately loaded the bases in the seventh inning on two walks and his own throwing error before giving way to Alex Vesia.
The Reds cashed in for one run to tie the game at 2 when Steer walked to force one in as a pinch hitter. But Vesia escaped further damage when he got Elly De La Cruz on a strikeout and Mike Ford on a pop-up.
The Reds’ Greene was a first-round draft pick (second overall) in 2017 out of nearby Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.
–Field Level Media