Clayton Kershaw struck out nine batters over seven innings and David Peralta had four hits and drove in two runs as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers breezed to a 6-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon.
Chris Taylor had two hits, including a solo homer in a three-run fourth inning, to help the Dodgers end their four-game skid and avoid their longest losing streak in four years.
Kershaw (8-4) allowed just five hits and posted his second straight seven-inning outing while matching his season high in strikeouts.
The veteran left-hander has fanned nine in five of his 13 starts in 2023. In earning his 205th career win with the Dodgers, Kershaw pulled to within four of Don Drysdale for second on the club’s all-time list.
The Reds, who overcame a five-run deficit on Tuesday and four-run deficit on Wednesday, saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.
Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz, two rookies at the heart of the Cincinnati comebacks earlier in the series, couldn’t do it for a third game. McLain went 2-for-4 with a double while De La Cruz had a single and a steal but struck out three times, twice against Kershaw.
After two scoreless innings to start the game, Cincinnati starter Graham Ashcraft (3-5) was hit on the lower left leg by a comebacker off the bat of Austin Barnes for the first out of the third. Ashcraft was seen twice by Reds medical staff as he attempted to stay in the game.
But he was pulled after allowing a two-run single by Peralta that scored Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Freeman drove in a run earlier in the frame.
Ashcraft continued to struggle in the Cincinnati rotation, allowing three runs and three hits over only 2 2/3 innings. Ashcraft has yielded 41 earned runs and 49 hits in 28 2/3 innings over his last seven starts.
The Reds threatened against Kershaw in the fifth and sixth, putting two runners on in each inning, but failed to score.
In the sixth, McLain and Jonathan India opened with singles to put runners on the corners. Kershaw struck out De La Cruz before Spencer Steer popped out and Tyler Stephenson whiffed to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
