Elly De La Cruz and Dane Myers homered while Sal Stewart added three hits to lead the Cincinnati Reds past the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
The loss denied the Dodgers (92-60) a chance to clinch their 13th National League West title in the past 14 seasons with a victory. Instead, they were forced to await the outcome of San Diego’s game later in Colorado against the Rockies. Los Angeles came into the game with a magic number of one for clinching the division.
Coming into play Wednesday, the Dodgers had won all five meetings with the Reds (71-81), outscoring them 31-7 in those five games. The Dodgers had won eight straight in the regular season and 10 straight overall, including last year’s two-game sweep in the NL wild-card round.
Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell, in his seventh start since arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow in May, was removed after one inning due to left groin tightness.
Snell struck out Dane Myers to open the bottom of the first and Elly De La Cruz lined out to center before Sal Stewart singled to left. It was the first hit Snell allowed in Cincinnati since the left-hander threw a no-hitter there on Aug. 2, 2024, in a 3-0 win for the San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the third against Cincinnati lefty starter Andrew Abbott when Will Smith doubled home Mookie Betts.
The Reds took their first lead of the four-game series in the bottom of the inning when Elly De La Cruz lined a two-run homer to right off right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen (1-2). It was De La Cruz’s 28th homer of the season.
Cincinnati added another run in the fifth for a 3-1 lead when Dane Myers homered to right off reliever Bobby Miller. The Dodgers appeared ready to rally in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out. Tommy Edman forced home a run with a groundout, but Betts lined out to a leaping De La Cruz at short to end the rally.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brito’s third hit of the night, a bloop to right, scored Sal Stewart to re-establish the two-run lead at 4-2.
Reds reliever Tejay Antone (3-2) picked up the win, throwing one-third of an inning on just three pitches.
