Dodgers hitters struck out 27 times in the first two games against the Reds, but won both. Shohei Ohtani on the mound aims for 50-plus pitches for the first time in 2025.
Striking out a lot isn’t as detrimental to your potential success as a team as some would lead you to believe. At least that’s what these first two games against the Cincinnati Reds have proved, both of them ending in Dodger victories.
The Dodger offense was thoroughly bullied by Chase Burns and Nick Lodolo, with the pair combining for 21 punchouts without either even completing six full frames. Against Burns, the Dodgers got all the offense they needed with three runs being more than enough to pave the way to a 5-2 win. Facing Lodolo, the team ultimately rallied versus the Reds’ bullpen to earn a comeback win.
For the third and final game at Great American Ball Park, the Dodgers will get an entirely different kind of starter, and one who is a familiar foe. The former Padre Nick Martínez has by far and away the lowest strikeout numbers of the Reds rotation (17.2 percent, 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings), virtually ensuring a completely different game script from the past two. Martínez hasn’t been able to properly follow up on what was a career year in 2024, dealing with a significant regression in his second campaign in Cincinnati. and going from a 3.10 ERA to 4.69.
Oddly enough, Martínez has enjoyed facing the Dodgers more than any other team in his big league career. Despite only having one start against Los Angeles, his career 1.46 ERA in 24⅔ IP is the lowest he has against any club and almost half of the second lowest (2.75 ERA against the Athletics).
All that strikeout stuff this game will inevitably lack from the previous two might be made up on the other side of the pitching duel with Shohei Ohtani on the mound. Still pretty limited in his leash, Ohtani has a shot at going over the 50-pitch mark in this one, topping out at a season-high 46 the last time out.
This is far from the ideal time for an Ohtani start, having played a game in the last five straight days, but at the same time, the bullpen has been kept relatively fresh as of late. Jack Dreyer and Alex Vesia are the only arms to have appeared multiple times in the last three games, with Dreyer pitching in every single one of them and Vesia in the last two. Ohtani is expected to go four innings in this one, which would be a season high.
Wednesday game info
- Teams: Dodgers at Reds
- Ballpark: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati
- Start time: 4:10 p.m. PT
- TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)