Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain and Joey Votto all hit home runs in the first three innings and the visiting Cincinnati Reds finished off a convincing 9-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
De La Cruz finished with four hits, the third time in 46 games since his June 6 debut he has delivered at least four hits in a contest.
Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft (6-7) gave up five hits over six scoreless innings as the Reds won both series over the Dodgers this season and went 4-2 against Los Angeles. It was the Reds’ first season-series victory over the Dodgers since 2018.
Freddie Freeman had two hits for the Dodgers, who lost a pair of All-Stars in the first four innings as both designated hitter J.D. Martinez (hamstring) and catcher Will Smith (elbow) departed.
Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove (2-3) gave up eight runs on 10 hits over six innings but also had a career-best 10 strikeouts. Grove’s outing came as the Dodgers are looking for rotation spots with Clayton Kershaw (shoulder) close to a return from the injured list and Lance Lynn set to make his debut with the club Tuesday.
Each of the first four Reds batters in the game reached base against Grove, with TJ Friedl collecting an RBI double two batters into the game and cleanup hitter Jake Fraley adding an RBI single. Spencer Steer followed with an RBI groundout for a 3-0 advantage.
De La Cruz blasted his seventh home run of the season deep into the seats in right-center field in the second inning for a 4-0 lead.
McLain’s 11th home run of the season came in the third inning, and two batters after a Fraley single, Votto crushed Grove’s cutter deep into the Cincinnati bullpen in right for his ninth of the season.
The Reds added another run in the sixth on a single from Friedl, while Votto had an RBI double in the ninth.
Ashcraft continued his solid run of pitching since recovering from a calf contusion. He entered 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA over his previous five starts following a run where he had a 16.03 ERA over three outings.
–Field Level Media