LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto set a personal postseason high by striking out nine batters while pitching into the seventh inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers broke it open at the plate by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Wednesday night and advance to a National League Division Series.
The third-seeded Dodgers, who are the reigning World Series champions and won the NL West Division this year, advanced to their 20th NLDS appearance — and 13th in a row — in franchise history and will face the second-seeded Philadelphia Phillies starting Saturday. The Phillies, who repeated as NL East champions, host the opener and have home-field advantage for the best-of-five series.
These teams last met in the postseason in 2009, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series for the second straight year.
“I know we can win the whole thing,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “We’ve got to continue to pitch, (have) timely hitting and play defense, and everything should be OK.”
After hitting a franchise playoff-tying five home runs in a 10-5 win in the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday against sixth-seeded Cincinnati, the Dodgers eliminated the Reds by playing small ball and rapping out 13 hits — two fewer than in Game 1. Betts went 4-for-5 with three doubles, tying Jim Gilliam in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series for most doubles in a single postseason game in Dodgers history.
“I think what we’re seeing is winning pitches, using the whole field, fighting and not trying to just slug,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we’re taking team at-bats.”
After the Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first inning Wednesday, Yamamoto retired the next 13 batters.
The Dodgers rallied to take a 3-2 lead before the 27-year-old Japanese right-hander wiggled his way out of a huge jam in the sixth. The Reds loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles by TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux.
Austin Hays grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Betts fired home, where catcher Ben Rortvedt stomped on the plate to get Friedl. Yamamoto then retired Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz on back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the threat.
“I was just trying to bring my everything out there,” Yamamoto, who made his MLB debut in 2024, said through a translator.
With blue rally towels waving, Yamamoto walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd of 50,465.
“Once he got the two outs, I think he kind of smelled blood right there and was able to attack and get the last out,” Betts said.
Yamamoto got the first two outs of the seventh before leaving to a second ovation. The right-hander allowed two runs, four hits and two walks on 113 pitches, his MLB career high. It was the most pitches by a Dodger in the playoffs since Walker Buehler threw 117 in Game 5 of a 2019 NLDS.
For the second straight night, the home fans’ mood soured in the eighth. Reliever Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs in the top half, making it 8-4, before the Reds brought the tying run to the plate against Alex Vesia. He got Friedl on a called third strike to end the inning in which Sheehan and Vesia made a combined 41 pitches. On Tuesday, three Dodgers relievers needed 59 pitches to get three outs in the eighth.
Rookie Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth, getting three outs, including striking out Steer and Lux on pitches that touched 101 mph.
The Dodgers stranded runners in each of the first five innings, but they took a 3-2 lead on Kiké Hernández’s RBI double and Miguel Rojas’ RBI single that hit the first-base line to chase Reds starter Zack Littell.
Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single leading off the sixth snapped an 0-for-9 skid against Reds reliever Nick Martinez. Betts added an RBI double down the third-base line and Teoscar Hernández had a two-run double that extended the lead to 7-2.
Yamamoto could have had a scoreless first, but Teoscar Hernández dropped a ball hit by Hays that would have been the third out. Hernández hugged Yamamoto in the dugout after the Japanese star left the game.
Stewart’s two-run RBI single with two outs eluded a diving Freddie Freeman at first for a 2-0 lead. It was Cincinnati’s first lead in a postseason game since Game 3 of a 2012 NLDS against the San Francisco Giants.
Stewart finished with three RBIs, but but his throwing error at first base in the sixth opened the door for the Dodgers’ big inning.
“It’s tough,” Stewart said. “I didn’t make some plays out there that cost the team and it’s a tough pill to swallow. I guess I’ll regroup in a few days, a few weeks, and get back to work.”
Cincinnati won eight of its final 11 regular-season games to secure the final playoff spot in the NL during its first year with Terry Francona as manager, and the Reds have young talent that suggest a bright future.
“Learning what postseason baseball feels like, understanding what it takes to get to the postseason and what it takes to win in the postseason, I think that is all valuable experience we can use going forward,” Steer said. “Hopefully, that’s the standard for this organization going forward, is the postseason.”
Cubs, Padres need one more day
CHICAGO — Manny Machado hit a two-run homer, Mason Miller dominated in relief again, and the fifth-seeded San Diego Padres beat the fourth-seeded Chicago Cubs 3-0, sending their NL Wild Card Series to a decisive third game.
Jackson Merrill hit an early sacrifice fly as NL West runner-up San Diego avoided elimination after losing 3-1 on Tuesday. Padres starter Dylan Cease struck out five batters in 3 2/3 innings before handing the ball to his team’s hard-throwing bullpen.
“That’s what postseason is about, man,” Machado said. “It’s a beautiful thing to be playing here in front of these crowds and with what’s at stake.”
The finale of the best-of-three series Thursday at Wrigley Field. Higher seeds host all games in the opening round of the MLB playoffs.
The playoff-tested Padres are looking for a repeat of 2020, when they dropped Game 1 in the wild-card round before advancing with two straight victories against the St. Louis Cardinals. Machado also homered in Game 2 of that series.
“There’s still a lot at stake just like there was today,” Machado said. “Our backs are still up against the wall, so go out there and try and play our best baseball for the next 27 outs.”
NL Central runner-up Chicago finished with four hits. The franchise is making its first appearance in the playoffs in five years, and it hasn’t advanced since it eliminated the Washington National in a 2017 NL Division Series.
“I think the first two games is really what you expected in this series, and I think tomorrow will be a lot of the same,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. I think we’re made for that. We’re going to have to produce more offense tomorrow; there’s no question. We didn’t do enough offensively today.”
San Diego jumped in front on Merrill’s flyball to right off Andrew Kittredge in the first, driving in Fernando Tatis Jr. Kittredge was first up in what was a bullpen game for Chicago, and the right-hander was replaced by left-hander Shota Imanaga in the second.
The Cubs threatened in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two down. Adrian Morejon then retired Pete Crow-Armstrong on a bouncer to first.
“Adrian came in and was just outstanding, really fantastic,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said.
The Padres added two more runs on Machado’s 404-foot drive to left off Imanaga in the fifth. Tatis reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on a sacrifice ahead of Machado’s 12th career homer in the playoffs.
“That splitter was meant for down in the zone and just hung a little bit,” Imanaga said through a translator, “and for me it was like, ‘Why did that happen?’ and something I’m going to think about, make those adjustments that I need to.”
The three runs were more than enough for San Diego’s bullpen, with Miller and Robert Suarez combining for 14 pitches of 100-plus mph.
Morejon pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings before Miller showed off his electric stuff while striking out five consecutive batters. The 6-foot-5 right-hander reached 104.5 mph on a called third strike to Carson Kelly in the seventh that was the fastest pitch in the postseason since Statcast started tracking in 2008.
Miller, who was acquired in a trade with the Athletics on July 31, struck out the side in the seventh in his postseason debut Tuesday. The eight straight strikeouts tied the MLB postseason record set by Josh Hader in 2022.
Miller was pulled from Game 2 after he hit Michael Busch with a slider with two outs in the eighth. Suarez retired Nico Hoerner on a liner to right before working a one-hit ninth for the save.
“You’ve got to get pitches to hit,” Counsell said. “If players of this talent don’t give you pitches to hit, it’s tough to get hits. They did a pretty darned good job of that today.”
Both teams are set to send right-handers to the mound in Game 3. Yu Darvish (5-5, 5.38 ERA) gets the ball for San Diego, while Jameson Taillon (11-7, 3.68) starts for Chicago.
Darvish played for the Cubs for three seasons before he was traded to the Padres in December 2020. He said he enjoys pitching at Wrigley.
“Yeah, this place did me good,” he said through a translator. “The organization, the fans did me good, too.”