Steve Webb
Game 46: 5/16/2024: Dodgers 2, Reds 7
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — It should have been a great night. Fans crammed into Dodger Stadium early to get their hands on the first ever Shohei Ohtani bobblehead in an LA uniform. The biggest crowd to see an MLB game this year, over 53,000 paid attendance. Ace Tyler Glasnow was pitching. But instead of a coronation, it was a dud to say the least. Glasnow got hit hard from the get-go, the hitters could only manage a handful of singles, and the Dodgers’ 22-game streak of holding teams to four runs or fewer got blown out of the water. Not a lot to cheer about.
Glasnow must have left the good stuff in the locker in this game. He wasn’t himself from the first batter, Will Benson, who got ahead 2-0 and then fouled off three straight pitches before taking Glasnow deep to give the Reds a quick 1-0 lead.
The Reds would score three more runs off the Dodgers’ righty before he exited after five inning. Elly De La Cruz ran wild all night, going 4-for-4 and stealing what seemed like half a dozen bases. For a minute, it looked like the Dodgers would at least keep their four-runs-or-less streak alive, but the Redlegs put up a three-spot in the top of the ninth to end the run. In taking his second loss of the year, Glasnow saw his ERA climb to 2.92 for the season, and his eight strikeouts pushed his league leading total to 81. Still, the free Jumbo Jack for the people was hardly enough to salve the wound of losing to the scuffling Reds.
On the plus side, and you have to look hard to find any, Gavin Lux knocked home a couple of meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth. Chris Taylor got a hit. You don’t see that too often. And, rejuvenated reliever Alex Vesia continues to put up zeroes. His last earned run came on April 10. His ERA is 1.33 over 20 appearances. That’s good, right?
But the offense, as the favorite saying of Orel Hershiser goes, had a second straight “flat tire.” They still have the best run differential in baseball, but their quiet performance these last two nights against vastly inferior opponents shows just how fickle a sport baseball can be sometimes. And, how tough it is to count on success in October, regardless of the construction of your roster.
Anyway, flush this one. Hopefully, there will be better things ahead the rest of the homestand. On Friday, the Dodgers start James Paxton against former Dodger farmhand Frankie Montas. 7:10 start. See you then.
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