LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto tied his MLB career high with 10 strikeouts across seven innings of one-run ball Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 14-1 rout of the Cincinnati Reds. The victory completed a three-game sweep of Cincinnati and extended L.A.'s season-high winning streak to seven games.
Yamamoto pitched as if his margin for error was miniscule, even with a double-digit cushion by the time he left the mound. He scattered three hits and a walk and cruised for most of the evening, with his lone blemish a solo homer to Elly De La Cruz in the fourth inning — De La Cruz's fifth straight game with a home run. The win was Yamamoto's 13th of the season, setting a single-season career high in his third year in the Majors.
The Dodgers pressured the Reds all evening before veritably exploding in the fourth. They batted around and kept the line moving with small ball to score six runs in the inning. It was the first time L.A. had scored six or more runs in a single inning since June 27 in San Diego, which was also the last time the team scored 14 or more runs in a game this season.
The rout dropped the Dodgers' magic number to win the NL West to 6. L.A. could clinch a postseason berth as soon as this weekend's series in Miami, when the club is expecting an additional boost with the planned callup of top prospect Josue De Paula, according to a source.