CINCINNATI — There is a legend from the Dodgers’ offense-deficient days in the 1960s of a fan (or one of the Dodgers themselves, versions vary) greeting another with the news that Sandy Koufax had thrown another no-hitter.
“Did they win?” the other fan asks warily.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto could relate to that punchline. The Dodgers’ offense has often been unsupportive on nights when he has pitched this season – enough to wonder the same thing when he held the Cincinnati Reds to one run on four hits Monday night.
They did win. A two-run double by Shohei Ohtani and a pair of RBI singles by Teoscar Hernandez provided more offense than Yamamoto usually gets in a 5-2 victory over the Reds.
Through his 21 starts this season, the Dodgers have managed three runs or fewer 11 times. During his 20 starts before Monday, they pushed across just 33 of those runs while he was in the game.
But the top four hitters in the lineup — Mookie Betts, Ohtani, Hernandez and Freddie Freeman — had five hits against the Reds, scored four of the Dodgers’ runs (Betts three) and drove in four.
“The offense is predicated on those guys and revolves around those guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Shohei’s double was big to kind of give us a little breather. Mookie showing some life was good. But yeah, it’s all predicated on those guys being good. That’s kind of why they’re on the roster.”
They scored a run for him in the first inning Monday when Mookie Betts led off with a double and trotted home on Hernandez’s first single.
But Yamamoto gave it right back in the bottom of the first, sandwiching a walk between singles by Matt McLain and Austin Hays to load the bases. A run scored on a ground out.
The Reds threatened just once more in Yamamoto’s seven innings. TJ Friedl led off the third inning with a double and moved to third when Betts and Michael Conforto didn’t communicate well on Elly De La Cruz’s pop-up to shallow left field. Betts backed off and left Conforto to make a futile dive for the ball.
No damage was done. Yamamoto struck out Hays and got Gavin Lux to pop out.
Those were the last of the four hits allowed by Yamamoto in the game. He retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, only a walk breaking the chain, and struck out nine in the game.
“We had to make a couple pivots after the first (inning),” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said. “They showed that they were attacking our original gameplan, and they were kind of all over it at the start. We had to change lanes a little bit and kind of mix it up.”
Yamamoto relied on three versions of his fastball — the four-seamer, two-seam sinker and splitter — to get 15 of his season-high 21 swings-and-misses.
“It was a little bit of everything,” Rushing said. “I mean, Yoshi has so many pitches. He can basically manipulate anything, he can throw whatever he wants. That’s what makes it fun to call a game for him.”
After some bumps in the road during May and June, Yamamoto has got his groove back. Over his past six starts, he has allowed just six earned runs and 20 hits in 31⅔ innings while striking out 38.
“I think the last couple, he’s gotten ‘Strike one,’” Roberts said. “When he needs to make a pitch, the split’s been there. Using the curveball to get back into counts and the strikeout when he needs it.
“It’s good to see him get back when he was kind of middling for a bit there and get back to being the dominant pitcher that we know he can be.”
The Dodgers took the lead for good in the fifth inning on Ohtani’s two-run double then pulled away in the seventh. Reds reliever Scott Barlow walked Betts and Ohtani to start the inning. Hernandez drove in Betts and Freddie Freeman drove in Ohtani,
Making his first appearance since returning from a forearm injury, Blake Treinen gave up two hits, walked two and allowed a run in the ninth inning before Jack Dreyer replaced him with the bases loaded and got the final out.
The Dodgers’ two wins on this trip have been closed out by players getting their first major-league saves, Ben Casparius in Boston on Friday and Dreyer on Monday.
Another young player is on his way to join the Dodgers in Cincinnati. Infield prospect Alex Freeland could be added to the roster Tuesday.
Tommy Edman was scratched from the lineup Monday with a recurring ankle problem that flared up as he was running the bases in Sunday’s game. Edman couldn’t play defense Monday.
At the same time, Hyeseong Kim continues to be hampered by a left shoulder injury that is clearly affecting his swing. If the Dodgers decide to put either Edman or Kim on the Injured List, Freeland would be the replacement.
“It’s day to day,” Roberts said of Edman’s situation. “There was an at-bat in the middle of the game where, under normal circumstances I would have hit him for Kim with the bases loaded with one out (in the seventh inning). But he just couldn’t play defense tonight. So we’re trying to protect him for the short and the long term.
“We’ll see. But obviously, if I couldn’t hit him tonight, for him to not be able to play three innings of defense, isn’t a great feeling.”