Recap: Yoshinobu Yamamoto & Dodgers Shutout Reds To Lower Magic Number

The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their domination over the Cincinnati Reds with another victory at Great American Ballpark, setting them up to take another series win on Wednesday before potentially going for a sweep on Thursday. The Dodgers have won eight straight regular season games over the Reds and 10 straight when including the postseason, dating back to Aug. 25, 2025. They also swept the Reds last week at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are now 45-31 on the road this season with five games left away from Chavez Ravine. That mark is tops in the National League and ties the Yankees for the best mark in baseball. In addition, the Dodgers lowered their magic number to clinch the NL West to two, meaning they could clinch the division as early as Wednesday. The Dodgers already clinched a playoff berth on Monday. Dodgers 4, Reds 0: key takeaways Yoshinobu Yamamoto shuts down Reds Yoshinobu Yamamoto started his outing in a completely uncharacteristic fashion. He walked the first batter he faced on just four pitches, and then followed that with a five-pitch walk to put two runners on with no outs to start the game. But after that, he locked in and turned his outing around in a way that was unexpected after that start. He retired the next three hitters to keep the Reds off the board, and went on to do that for another six innings. After those two walks, he retired 21 of the 22 batters he faced, with the only hit coming as a two-out double from Elly De La Cruz in the third inning before he stranded him with a strikeout. Yamamoto retired 17 consecutive hitters after allowing that one hit. The right-hander finished his outing going seven shutout innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out seven hitters. Yamamoto has gone at least seven innings in three consecutive outings now, and he has not gone fewer than six since Aug. 8, when he went 5.2. Over his last 21 innings pitched, all of which have come in September, Yamamoto has allowed just five runs. After Yamamoto, Brock Stewart worked the eighth inning and Tanner Scott had the ninth to preserve the shutout. Teoscar Hernández remains on fire The Dodgers scored first when Hunter Feduccia hit an RBI single in the second inning. That came after Max Muncy was hit by a pitch and Tommy Edman singled, picking up his first hit since Sept. 6, a span of seven consecutive games without a base hit. L.A. tripled its lead in the third inning as the duo of Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández once again contributed to the offense, which has been a common trend over the past few weeks. Tucker worked a two-out walk to keep the inning alive, and then Teoscar Hernández slugged his 15th home run of the season to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Hernandez has been as hot as plasma in September, batting .385/.484/.712 over his last 15 games with four home runs, 18 RBI and nine runs scored. Over the last week, Tucker has also broken out, hitting .333/.444/.905 with three home runs, seven RBI and eight runs scored. The Dodgers added one more run to their total in the seventh inning when Alex Freeland blasted his fourth long ball of the year. Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!