Dodgers appear dejected on Shohei Ohtani bobblehead night

Long lines snaked through the entrances of Dodger Stadium about three hours before Thursday night’s game, and most of the 53,527 fans in attendance were in their seats well before first pitch, a rarity for Chavez Ravine’s notoriously late crowds.

The drawing? A bobblehead doll of Shohei Ohtani, the first two-way star as a Dodger since signing a 10-year, $700 million contract in December, which was handed out to the first 40,000 fans through the turnstiles.

“It’s great for Shohei, it’s good for the Dodgers,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game against the Cincinnati Reds. “I mean, it’s going to be a popular item for fans who are lucky enough to get one of these.”

For anyone who was too late to get an Ohtani doll, the Dodgers may be sorry. They also left Chavez Ravine empty-handed, managing just four singles — one by bloop, another that didn’t make it out of the infield — against seven pitchers in a 7-2 loss to a struggling Reds team that had lost 15 of 19. previous ones. games. It’s the first time since 2018 that the Dodgers have gone without an extra-base hit in two consecutive games.

Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz had four hits, a walk, an RBI and a career-high four stolen bases, and Dodgers ace Tyler Glasnow was pummeled for four runs and six hits in five innings, while the Dodgers lost their second game in a row, the first consecutive streak since they lost three in a row to the Washington and New York Mets from April 17-20.

Reds right-hander Nick Martinez, the fourth pitcher in a bullpen game, came in to start the third inning and gave up one hit in five innings, striking out four and walking none, to earn the victory.

Cincinnati opened a 4-0 game with three runs in the top of the ninth by reliever Nick Ramirez for a 7-0 lead, a rally that included Stuart Fairchild’s RBI double and Mike Ford’s RBI single to snap the 22-game streak. of the Dodgers games in which they held an opponent to four runs or less since April 21, a franchise record.

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The Dodgers avoided a shutout when Gavin Lux grounded into a bases-loaded, two-out, two-run single to right to cut the deficit to 7-2.

Glasnow had been nearly untouchable in his previous four starts, going 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA, striking out 39 and walking six in 28 innings and yielding a .158 average (15-for-95), but his first three innings on Thursday were more of a routine.

Reds leader Will Benson opened the game by hitting a 96 mph fastball 439 feet into the right-field pavilion for his sixth home run of the season.

De La Cruz followed with a single to center and stole second, increasing his major league stolen base lead to 27, and scored on Tyler Stephenson’s RBI double to left for a 2–0 lead.

De La Cruz led off the third inning with a double to left and batted third for his 28th stolen base. Glasnow stiffened, striking out Ford with an 84 mph curveball and Spencer Steer with a 96 mph fastball, but Stephenson hit a two-out, broken-bat RBI single to right-center field for a 3-0 Cincinnati lead.

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De La Cruz generated another run with his speed in the fifth when he drew a walk single and stole second and third. Ford struck out looking at an 88 mph slider, and Steer hit a nasty 90 mph slider in the dirt, but the pitch got past catcher Austin Barnes and into the fast break, allowing De La Cruz to score for a 4-0 run. lead.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, De La Cruz’s 30 stolen bases are the most in a team’s first 44 games since Kenny Lofton stole 41 bags in the same period in 1996.

Lofton finished with 75 stolen bases that season; De La Cruz, who has more stolen bases than 18 of the 30 major league teams, is on pace for 110 stolen bases.

In what amounted to a Pyrrhic victory for the Dodgers, Barnes threw out De La Cruz in an attempt to steal second base to end the seventh inning, just the fifth time this season the Reds’ speedster had been caught stealing.

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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.