By Hal McCoy
For one night, one game, the Cincinnati Reds quit playing Fay Wray to the King Kong Los Angeles Dodgers.
Wlth a 6-2 win Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park, the Reds ended a 10-game losing streak to the Dominant Dodgers.
And it temporarily delayed the Dodgers from clinching ther 14th National League West championship in 15 years.
It took a huge, huge stroke of bad luck for the Dodgers, but for the forlorn Reds a win is a win is a win.
Two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell, who pitched a no-hitter against the Reds when he wore a San Francisco Giants uniform, could pitch only one inning.
He departed after a scoreless first inning with groin stiffness.
So it became a parade of bullpen pitchers for the Dodgers, six of them, and the Reds pecked away, scoring two runs three times against three of them.
And it wasn’t much different for the Reds. Starter Andrew Abbott survived only 4 2/3 innings, one out shy of qualifying for the win.
He needed 98 pitches to get as far as he did and left with a 2-1 lead despite walking five.
The Reds’ bullpen, five of them, outperformed the Dodger bullpen, holding LA to one run and four hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.
Perhaps the headline should be: “Reds Finally Stop Hernandez.”
Teoscar Hernandez, who had a 23-game hitting streak against the Reds, was stopped cold — 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a double play.
Or perhaps the headline should be: “De La Cruz Strikes Again.”
Elly De La Cruz started the fun night by giving the Reds a 2-0 lead in the third inning wiith (what else?) a two-run home run. It was his fifth home run in six games against the Dodgers.
And it stretched his on-base streak to 23 straight games.
In addition, with the Reds leading, 3-2, in the sixth inning, the Dodgers had runners on third and second with two outs.
Mookie Betts, who had three of LA’s seven hits, scorched a high line drive toward left field. At 6-foot-6 with the leaping ability of a puma, De La Cruz went high in the air to snag it, saving two runs.
De La Cruz probably is the only shortstop extant capable of making that play.
“He is on time, he’s got balance,” said manager Tito Francona about De La Cruz at the bat. “When you’re on time and you’ve got balance, that shrinks the strike zone a little bit.
“He leverages the ball so well when he is on balance and he is using all fields,” he added.
In short, he swings and he mashes.
Or perhaps the headline should be: “Rookie Brito Leads Reds With Three Hits.”
Playing right field for the first time, Juan Brito banged three singles and in the sixth drove in a run to give the Reds a 4-2 lead.
The player the Reds acquired from the Cleveland Guardians at the trade deadline this year, has hit safely in all five of his starts.
Brito started because LA starter Snell is lefthanded and the switch-hitting Brito is labeled a better hitter from the right side.
But his first hit came batting lefthanded against righthander Blake Treinen and his second hit came off righthander Bobby Miller. His run-scoring hit did come batting righthanded against LA lefthander Alex Vesia.
“He has had good at bats for us,” said Francona. “The majority have come from the right side. But he lined one hard to right field batting lefthanded. He has done some good things for us.
“Righthanded his swing is very short and right to the ball,” Francona added. “Lefthanded it’s a little different and that happens with (switch-hitters) a lot.
“I also think confidence plays a big part. He’s getting to play a little bit and he’s trying to take advantage of it. He’s playing the game, that’s what I like. . .not trying to do too much. He is doing what the game says.”
A run in the fifth came off the bat of Dane Myers, a two-out home run. Myers also was in the lineup because starter Snell is lefthanded but Myers’ home run came off righthander Bobby Miller.
Satisfying?
“A little bit,” said Myers. “I know there is a lot of talk that I can only hit lefties, so I’m thankful to get the opportunity to face a righthander and come through for the team.”
Or perhaps the headline would be: “Sal Stewart Sheds Mini-Slump With Three Hits And An RBI.”
Stewart singled in the first, but got picked off. He began the sixth inning with a 10-pitch at bat that included five fouls before he singled. He then scored on Brito’s single.
He singled home a run in the seventh, his 108th RBI, then was thrown out at home trying to score on another Brito single.
In Los Angeles, the headline might be: “Dodgers Strand 12, 0 for 11 With Runners In Scoring Position.”
Abbott gave up a single and two of his five walks in the first inning, but squirmed out of by getting a fly ball out from Miguel Rojas on his 26th pitch of the inning.
Abbott pitched a 1-2-3 second but gave up a run in the third on a one-out single by Betts and a run-scoring double by Will Smith.
Abbott stopped that threat by striking out both Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez, both on three pitches.
In the fourth he walked leadoff hitter Rojas and he stole second. Abbott coaxed a pop-out from Kyle Tucker, then struck out both Kike Hernandez and Alex Call.
He walked the first two batters in the fifth and retired the next two, but Francona brought in Julian Garcia to face Teoscar Hernandez and he popped up on the first pitch.
Although it wasn’t a save situation, closer Emilio Pagan pitched the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Betts, then put an exclamation point on the win by striking out Smith, Freddie Freeman (0 for 5, three strikeouts) and Teoscar Hernandez.