The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Wild Card Series, winning Game 2 by an 8-4 margin on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, and advanced to the NLDS to face the Philadelphia Phillies starting Saturday in Philadelphia. The victory marked the Dodgers’ 13th straight postseason appearance in the National League Division Series.
Mookie Betts was the offensive star for Los Angeles, going 4-for-5 with three doubles and three RBIs. His performance tied a Dodgers postseason record, matching Jim Gilliam’s three doubles in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series, according to MLB insider and columnist Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Betts also contributed defensively, throwing out Austin Hays at home in the sixth inning with the bases loaded, helping starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto escape a key jam.
Betts’ four-hit game showed the Dodgers had all their ducks in a row at the plate, with contributions also from Kike Hernandez, Miguel Rojas, Ben Rortvedt, Teoscar Hernandez, and Shohei Ohtani. The bottom three spots in the lineup combined for five runs, giving Los Angeles critical breathing room in the later innings.
Yamamoto had the hitters eating out of his hand on the mound, striking out nine over 6 2/3 innings while allowing just two unearned runs and four hits. He threw a career-high 113 pitches and recorded 24 consecutive innings without yielding an earned run.
Despite facing a bases-loaded threat in the sixth inning, Yamamoto coaxed a fielder’s choice, followed by back-to-back swinging strikeouts of Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz. Blake Treinen briefly relieved him in the seventh, and Yamamoto departed to a standing ovation with a one-run lead, which the Dodgers quickly expanded. In his last eight starts, Yamamoto has posted a 1.34 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings, illustrating his recent dominance.
Los Angeles’ bullpen found themselves between a rock and a hard place in the eighth, with Emmet Sheehan allowing two runs on two hits and two walks before being replaced by Alex Vesia. Vesia escaped a bases-loaded jam with strikeouts, while rookie Roki Sasaki closed out the ninth, striking out two batters with pitches touching 101 mph. The bullpen’s heavy lifting left no doubt about the Dodgers’ reliance on their starting rotation, which has been a team strength throughout the postseason.
Offensively, Los Angeles tallied 13 hits in Game 2, complementing their five home runs and 10-run effort in Game 1. Betts’ double, Hernandez’s RBI double, Rojas’ RBI single, and Teoscar Hernandez’s two-run double opened the floodgates in the sixth, turning a 3-2 squeaker into a 7-2 lead.
With the sweep, Los Angeles avoided a Game 3 and gained extra rest ahead of the NLDS. They will face a formidable Philadelphia Phillies squad on Saturday night that won 96 games in the regular season, featuring stars Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Trea Turner, along with a lefty-heavy rotation led by Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, and Jesus Luzardo.
The Phillies and Dodgers last met in the postseason in 2009, with Philadelphia winning the NLCS 4-1.
