On the heels of taking three of four from the reeling Giants, the Reds were presented with a much more imposing foe Thursday in the red-hot Dodgers and a top-end starter Zack Greinke. Add in a sold-out Dodger Stadium for Vin Scully Bobblehead Night and the conditions were far from optimal for the road team.
No problem on all accounts. The Reds took the lead early and opened the four-game series with a 5-2 win. A six-game Dodgers’ winning streak was snapped while Cincinnati won its seventh game of nine, posting a 4-1 mark on the current 11-game road swing.
“I think the ‘dreaded West Coast’ is in the past a little bit, in my opinion. We’re just trying to win ballgames,” said Reds right fielder Jay Bruce, who hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning.
In the previous two seasons, the Reds were 13-8 against the three National League clubs in California after years of frustration in the Pacific Time Zone.
“We’ve got a really good team,” Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos said. “The pitching is coming together. The hitting is coming together. The defense is playing. When you have a lineup like we have and the pitching staff and we’re swinging the bat good, we’re going to win a lot of ballgames.”
One thing the Reds might envy about the Dodgers right now is their upward mobility. They have gained no ground on the first-place Cardinals during their hot streak and remain five games back and third in the NL Central. Since June 21, the Dodgers are 23-6 and made up 11 games in the standings to lead the NL West.
Latos improved to 10-3 with a 3.39 ERA this season after a fine evening where he pitched 7 2/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Both runs scored on Adrian Gonzalez groundouts.
“I felt pretty good today,” Latos said. “I was a little jet-lagged from the plane getting in at 2:30 this morning. All in all, I can’t complain. That lineup that they have is a good one. I was able to work the fastball in pretty good.
“Them and Tampa are putting together a good run. They crawled all the way back from last place.”
Latos got offensive support early as the game’s second batter, Xavier Paul, put the Reds up 1-0 in the first inning by hitting a 2-0 Greinke pitch into the right-center-field seats.
In the top of the second with one out, Todd Frazier extended his hitting streak to eight games with a double down the left-field line. It was Frazier’s sixth double during the streak and he scored on Cesar Izturis’ two-out RBI single to center field.
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