De La Cruz goes 4 for 4 with career-high 4 steals in Reds' 7-2 win over Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elly De La Cruz went 4 for 4 with a career-best four stolen bases and scored three times in the Cincinnati Reds’ 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
Nick Martinez (1-2) won in relief, permitting one hit over five shutout innings and striking out four for the Reds, who used seven pitchers in a bullpen game.
Cincinnati snapped the Dodgers' franchise record of 22 straight games allowing four runs or fewer.
Los Angeles lost back-to-back games for the first time since April 19-20 and has dropped four of seven overall.
Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout on his first bobblehead night of the season, when fans snarled traffic and waited in long lines to snag the giveaway depicting the Japanese superstar. Only 40,000 fans got a bobblehead among the sellout crowd of 53,527 — the biggest in the majors this season and at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 20, 2019.
De La Cruz matched his career high for hits and reached base five times with three singles, a double and a walk. His four steals were the most by a player against the Dodgers since Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth had that many on May 12, 2009.
The speedy De La Cruz finally got thrown out by catcher Austin Barnes trying to swipe second base to end the seventh. The 22-year-old shortstop has 30 steals this season. Conner Capel had the Reds' other stolen base in the game.
Will Benson hit a leadoff homer against Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow (6-2). Tyler Stephenson drove in two runs, including a two-out RBI single in the third that made it 3-0.
The Reds tacked on three more in the ninth for a 7-0 lead.
The Dodgers managed just two hits until the ninth, when Andy Pages singled while pinch-hitting for Ohtani. They loaded the bases and scored two runs on Gavin Lux's bases-loaded single.
Los Angeles went down in order in four straight innings. Three of those came against Martinez, including the sixth when he retired Mookie Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
UP NEXT
Reds RHP Frankie Montas (2-3, 4.20 ERA) starts Friday night against Dodgers LHP James Paxton (5-0, 2.58), who has a three-game winning streak.
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