Puig Hits Walkoff Homer In 11th To Beat Reds 1-0, Dodgers Take Series 3-1

Yasiel Puig #66 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a walk off solo home run in the 11th inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on July 28, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won 1-0 in 11 innings. (credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

 LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Yasiel Puig homered with two outs in the 11th inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Cincinnati pitchers set a franchise record with 20 strikeouts. Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Tim Federowicz each fanned three times as the Dodgers established their highest single-game total for strikeouts since the franchise moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles following the 1957 season.

Puig drove a 2-out, 0-1 pitch deep into the left-field pavilion against rookie Curtis Partch (0-1) for his 10th homer and 23rd RBI in 48 big league games. The excitable rookie circled the bases and slid into home plate, where teammates were waiting for him.

The NL West leaders won for the 26th time in 32 games and extended their lead to 2 1/2 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost 1-0 to San Diego.

Brandon League (6-3) pitched two hitless innings for the win.

Puig’s first game-ending homer in the major leagues came after the Dodgers were held to one hit by Tony Cingrani through the first seven innings.

Cingrani, facing a lineup missing leadoff hitter Carl Crawford for the second straight day because of a high temperature, tied a career high with 11 strikeouts in his 12th big league start before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter.

The only hit against the 24-year-old left-hander was a two-out single through the box in the third inning by Dodgers pitcher Chris Capuano — his first hit of the season. Mark Ellis followed with a towering drive toward the left-field corner that Chris Heisey caught right in front of the short fence.

Los Angeles didn’t get another baserunner until Puig walked on a full count leading off the seventh, but the rookie was picked off first base with Gonzalez — the team’s RBI leader — at the plate.

Capuano held the Reds to three hits over 6 2-3 innings. The left-hander retired 15 of his first 16 batters, less than 24 hours after teammate Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched two-hit ball over seven innings and retired his final 13 in a 4-1 victory.

Joey Votto’s two-out single in the first was Cincinnati’s only hit until Devin Mesoraco snapped a string of 13 straight Cincinnati outs with a leadoff double in the sixth. Mesoraco advanced to third on Cingrani’s sacrifice bunt, and Reds manager Dusty Baker put on a suicide squeeze with Derrick Robinson at the plate.

Mesoraco had to return to third after the rookie fouled off an 0-1 pitch, and was retired in a rundown after Robinson grounded out to third baseman Juan Uribe with the infield playing in.

The Reds wasted another leadoff double in the seventh by Votto.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

View the original article here

Ryu Allows 1 Run In Dodgers’ Win Over Reds

Hyun-Jin Ryu #99 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on July 27, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hyun-Jin Ryu gave up two hits over seven innings and retired his last 13 batters, Skip Schumaker hit a tiebreaking two-run homer, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 Saturday night.

Ryu (9-3) had nine strikeouts, all in a span of 13 batters. The first came against Joey Votto, who took a called third strike after Chris Heisey hit his first triple of the season with two out in the third. Cincinnati’s run came on a homer by Jay Bruce in the second.

The Dodgers increased their NL West lead to 1 1/2 games over Arizona.

Ryu faced South Korean countryman Shin-Soo Choo for the first time in the major leagues. The Reds’ center fielder walked, grounded out to first base and struck out.

Kenley Jansen got the last three outs for his 14th save.

Bronson Arroyo (9-8) gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings, after going 4-0 with a 2.30 ERA in his previous six starts against Los Angeles. The right-hander was coming off a complete-game 11-0 victory at San Francisco on Monday.

Carl Crawford, who made a brief visit to an emergency room on Thursday to get checked on for a high temperature and fever and then singled his first three times up in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory Friday night, was held out of the lineup. Manager Don Mattingly replaced him with Schumaker, who came in with more plate appearances (53) and hits (18) against Arroyo than anyone else on Los Angeles’ roster.

Schumaker came through in the fifth, driving Arroyo’s 1-0 pitch to center field for his second home run of the season and a 3-1 Dodgers lead after a leadoff single by Mark Ellis. It was the 300th home run given up by the 14-year veteran, including a career-high and major league-worst 46 in 2011.

Schumaker doubled in the seventh inning and scored the Dodgers’ fourth run on a two-out single by Adrian Gonzalez.

The Dodgers got a run in the first on a two-out double by Hanley Ramirez after Yasiel Puig walked, advanced on a flyout and stole third without a throw. But the Reds tied it in the second when Bruce drove Ryu’s 2-0 pitch into the right field pavilion for his 22nd home run. Since the start of the 2010 season, Bruce leads all left-handed batters with 42 homer against lefty pitchers — including eight this season.

Bruce, the Reds’ right fielder, also threw out Puig at first base in the fifth after the unpredictable and overaggressive rookie made a wide turn on his single toward the line. The play immediately followed Schumaker’s homer.

In Thursday night’s series opener, Puig made a similar wide turn around first on a single to center and ended up at third base after Choo threw the ball past first baseman Joey Votto and the ball ended up in the stands for a two-base error that led to an unearned run against Mat Latos.

NOTES: Ryu is 5-1 with a 1.83 ERA in 10 home starts. The Dodgers have won each of his last six outings, while he had three no-decisions. … Arroyo has given up a franchise-record 238 home runs since joining the Reds in a March 2006 trade from Boston for Wily Mo Pena. Six of them have come against the Dodgers. … Reds RHP Jonathan Broxton, on the disabled list since June 15 with an elbow strain, threw 20 pitches during early batting practice. “He was throwing the ball good,” said manager Dusty Baker, who was noncommittal when asked about the best-case scenario for the former Dodger closer’s return. “He didn’t quite have the command, but that’s to be expected. As long as there is no pain, that means he’s on the way.” … Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt rejoined the club after missing four games because of the death of his mother-in-law. … Votto’s consecutive game on-base streak ended at 38 after he went 0 for 3. That left Ramirez with the longest active streak in the majors at 35. … The loss made Cincinnati 9-1 in games Arroyo has pitched following a Reds defeat. He’s gotten the decision in six of those wins.

View the original article here