Field Level Media
May 18, 2019
Tyler Mahle threw six shutout innings, and the Cincinnati Reds evened the three-game series against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-0 win on Saturday afternoon.
Mahle (1-5) returned home after six straight road starts and limited the Dodgers to four hits, striking out five and walking two. The Reds came in averaging 1.8 runs per game for Mahle, the lowest run support in the majors.
Cincinnati right fielder Yasiel Puig had two hits against his former team, including a key two-out, two-run single in the third inning. Jose Iglesias also had two hits, and Jesse Winker hit his 10th home run of the season for the Reds.
Walker Buehler (4-1) pitched six innings, allowing four runs (one earned) and seven hits for the Dodgers. He struck out seven and didn't walk a batter.
Dodgers right fielder Cody Bellinger, who came in with the highest batting average in the majors, went 2-for-3 with a walk to raise it to .409. Austin Barnes also had two hits for Los Angeles.
Winker homered to straightaway center in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, the first run scored against Los Angeles in 24 innings.
The Reds tacked on three more runs in the third, all unearned.
Tucker Barnhart and Nick Senzel started the inning with singles. Joey Votto then hit a grounder to the right of shortstop Corey Seager. He fielded the ball and threw off balance toward Chris Taylor, who was covering second. The throw went wide and into shallow right, scoring Barnhart and putting runners on second and third.
Buehler nearly escaped the inning without further damage, but with two outs, Puig hit a soft liner off the end of the bat that fell in front of center fielder Alex Verdugo, scoring two more runs for a 4-0 lead.
David Hernandez pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the Reds, left-hander Amir Garrett struck out three in the eighth around a one-out single by Bellinger, and Raisel Iglesias finished off the shutout in the ninth.
Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner did not start after fouling a pitch off his shin on Friday night, but pinch hit in the ninth and grounded out to end the game.
--Field Level Media