Yoshinobu Yamamoto shines as Dodgers sweep Reds to reach NL Division Series

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out a postseason-high nine while pitching into the seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers broke it open with a four-run sixth to beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Wednesday night and advance to the National League Division Series.

The defending World Series champion Dodgers advanced to their 20th NLDS appearance – 13th in a row – in franchise history and will face the Phillies starting Saturday in Philadelphia. The teams last met in the postseason in 2009, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series for the second straight year.

“I know we can win the whole thing,” Betts said. “We’ve got to continue to pitch, timely hitting and play defense, and everything should be OK.”

After hitting a franchise playoff-tying five home runs in a 10-5 win in the NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday, the Dodgers eliminated the Reds by playing small ball and rapping out 13 hits – two fewer than in Game 1. Mookie Betts went 4 for 5 with three doubles, tying Jim Gilliam in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series for most doubles in a single postseason game in team history.

“I think what we’re seeing is winning pitches, using the whole field, fighting and not trying to just slug,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we’re taking team at-bats.”

After the Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first, Yamamoto retired the next 13 batters.

The Dodgers rallied to take a 3-2 lead before the Japanese right-hander wiggled his way out of a huge jam in the sixth. The Reds loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles by TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux.

Austin Hays grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Betts fired home, where catcher Ben Rortvedt stomped on the plate to get Friedl. Yamamoto then retired Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz on back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the threat.

“I was just trying to bring my everything out there,” Yamamoto said through a translator.

With blue rally towels waving, Yamamoto walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd of 50,465.

“Once he got the two outs, I think he kind of smelled blood right there and was able to attack and get the last out,” Betts said.

Yamamoto got the first two outs of the seventh before leaving to a second ovation. The right-hander allowed two runs, four hits and walked two on a career-high 113 pitches. It was the most pitches by a Dodger in the playoffs since Walker Buehler threw 117 in Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.

For the second straight night, the fans’ mood soured in the eighth. Reliever Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs, making it 8-4, before the Reds brought the tying run to the plate against Alex Vesia. He got Friedl on a called third strike to end the inning in which Sheehan and Vesia made a combined 41 pitches. On Tuesday, three Dodgers relievers needed 59 pitches to get three outs in the eighth.

Rookie Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth, getting three outs, including striking out Steer and Lux on pitches that touched 101 mph.

The Dodgers stranded runners in each of the first five innings, but they took a 3-2 lead on Kiké Hernández’s RBI double and Miguel Rojas’ RBI single that hit the first-base line to chase Reds starter Zack Littell.

Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single leading off the sixth snapped an 0-for-9 skid against Reds reliever Nick Martinez. Betts added an RBI double down the third-base line and Teoscar Hernández had a two-run double that extended the lead to 7-2.

Yamamoto could have had a scoreless first but Teoscar Hernández dropped a ball hit by Hays that would have been the third out. Hernández hugged Yamamoto in the dugout after the Japanese star left the game.

Stewart’s two-run RBI single with two outs eluded a diving Freddie Freeman at first for a 2-0 lead. It was Cincinnati’s first lead in a postseason game since Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS against San Francisco.