Tarik Skubal pitches the Dodgers past the Reds 3-2 for their 6th straight win

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tarik Skubal pitched into the eighth inning, Teoscar Hernández singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth and the Los Angeles Dodgers held off the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Tuesday night for their sixth consecutive victory.

Hernández went 3 for 3 with a walk and is hitting .484 in his last nine games. Will Smith homered early for the NL West leaders.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was given the night off to rest nagging knee and biceps injuries. Freddie Freeman went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts as the designated hitter in Ohtani’s place.

Skubal (9-7) allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two. The Dodgers have won each of his last four outings.

Since joining the club just before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner is 2-2 with a 2.84 ERA and 48 strikeouts against 10 walks in seven starts.

Tanner Scott pitched the ninth to earn his 22nd save.

The Dodgers led 1-0 on Smith’s two-strike, two-out homer off Nick Lodolo in the first. Hernández walked and scored when Tommy Edman was hit by a pitch from Lodolo with the bases loaded in the second.

Hernández’s go-ahead hit to center field chased Lodolo (3-4). The left-hander gave up three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out six.

Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz tied it at 2 with a two-out, two-run homer off Skubal in the third. The 444-foot drive to center — the longest homer hit at Dodger Stadium this season — came on an 87 mph changeup, giving De La Cruz a homer in four consecutive games, tying his career high. He also matched his single-season club record for homers by a switch-hitter with his 25th.

De La Cruz was involved in a sparkling defensive play in the bottom of the inning.

With two outs, Hernández tripled and the ball skipped past charging center fielder Dane Myers, who chased it to the wall. Left fielder JJ Bleday came over and sent the relay throw to De La Cruz, who raced from shortstop to center. He fired a 106 mph throw to the plate to nail Hernández, who got the green light from third base coach Dino Ebel to try for an inside-the-park home run.

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The Reds had the potential tying run in scoring position in the eighth on De La Cruz’s two-out double off reliever Edgardo Henriquez. Sal Stewart had a 1-2 count when the Dodgers challenged a ball call. It was overturned by the Automatic Ball-Strike System, and Stewart struck out to end the threat.

Up next

Reds RHP Rhett Lowder (6-9, 5.43 ERA) starts Wednesday’s series finale against RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.67).

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here