Dodgers 14, Reds 1: Yamamoto's 10 Ks, Four Homers in a Rout

Ten strikeouts, then the lineup took over

September 9, 2026 - Los Angeles - Yoshinobu Yamamoto had already retired 17 of his first 20 hitters when Elly De La Cruz swung at the first pitch of the fourth. The ball went 403 feet to center. Cincinnati had one run. Yamamoto had the rest of the night.

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 14-1 at Dodger Stadium. Yamamoto struck out 10 in seven innings. Los Angeles hit four homers and scored six in the fourth. The Associated Press recap called it a season-high seventh straight win and a sweep. The magic number for a 13th NL West title in 14 years dropped to six. Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman were not in the lineup.

It was 91 degrees and clear, wind out to right at 9 mph. Attendance was 45,252. The game lasted 2 hours, 31 minutes. Cincinnati used a catcher on the mound in the ninth. That is the kind of Wednesday this was.

A double play, then a two-run shot

Los Angeles scored first without a homer. Teoscar Hernández reached in the second. Kyle Tucker moved up. Alex Freeland bounced into a double play, and Hernández scored anyway. 1-0. Ugly baseball. It counted.

The third was cleaner. Will Smith was on. Mookie Betts hit a line drive to left-center for his 19th homer. 3-0. Betts finished 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI. The Associated Press noted it was his fifth multi-hit game in the first eight games of September. His average sat at .249 after the night. The bat is loud even when the average is not.

De La Cruz answered on the first pitch of the fourth. Career-high fifth straight game with a homer, his 26th of the year. Same first-pitch look he had shown Tarik Skubal on Tuesday. Sal Stewart singled twice off Yamamoto. JJ Bleday walked. The Reds had traffic. They did not have a second run.

Six in the fourth, and Lowder was done

Rhett Lowder (6-10) lasted 3 1/3 innings: seven hits, seven runs, two walks, four strikeouts, 72 pitches. The fourth inning ended his night and the game as a contest.

Tucker scored on Freeland's double. Enrique Hernández doubled to left, deflected by center fielder Carlos Jorge, and two more scored. 6-1. Smith walked. Teoscar Hernández singled, deflected by De La Cruz, and Smith and Betts scored. 9-1. Luis Mey inherited the mess and could not stop it. The Associated Press said it was the Dodgers' most runs in an inning since June 27, when they put up nine in Yamamoto's win over San Diego. All nine starters reached base. Los Angeles has now beaten Cincinnati 11 straight times at home.

Max Muncy hit a two-run homer to right in the sixth, his 27th, with Betts aboard. 11-1. Enrique Hernández went deep to left in the seventh, Freeland scoring ahead of him, his third homer of the year and four RBI on the night. 13-1. Tucker added a solo shot to right-center in the eighth, his 13th. 14-1. José Trevino, the Reds' catcher, was on the mound for that one. Fourteen pitches. One homer. The box score lists it as pitching. It was not a pitching night for Cincinnati.

Tucker went 3-for-5 with a double, a homer, two runs, and an RBI. Enrique Hernández went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, two runs, and four RBI. Teoscar Hernández drove in two. Freeland walked twice, doubled, scored twice, and drove in one. The 14 hits were spread around a lineup that did not need Ohtani or Freeman to wreck a September starter.

Yamamoto at 13 wins

Yamamoto (13-8) went seven: three hits, one run, one walk, 10 strikeouts, 90 pitches. The Associated Press said the 13 wins are a career high and the strikeouts tied a season best. He retired 17 of his first 20. De La Cruz's homer was the only earned run. Stewart's two singles and Bleday's walk were the rest of Cincinnati's damage against him. Blake Treinen struck out two in a scoreless eighth. Seth Halvorsen finished the ninth.

The 13 runs of support were the most for Yamamoto since July 19, per the AP recap. That is the version of a Dodgers start that makes the board look silly. One run allowed. Fourteen scored. A catcher throwing the ninth.

Cincinnati is 69-77. Los Angeles is 89-57. The Reds got six hits and no errors and still left town in a sweep. De La Cruz's streak is real. The rest of the order did not back it up. Matt McLain lasted one at-bat. Héctor Rodríguez, Juan Brito, and TJ Friedl combined to go 0-for-11.

Los Angeles keeps rolling toward October without two of the names that sold the winter. The magic number is six. The home streak against this club is 11. Yamamoto is the one who made the first three innings look like a different sport than the fourth.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Yamamoto at 27 pitching fantasy points, the top pitcher total on a 15-game Wednesday. Enrique Hernández checked in at 11 hitting FP. Betts had 10. Tucker had 9. Los Angeles finished with 30 team FP, the day's high. Cincinnati finished at minus-13. A 14-1 with four homers and 10 strikeouts will do that.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*