Tony Gonsolin didn’t produce his sharpest start but Freddie Freeman led an offensive onslaught to help the Los Angeles Dodgers start their road trip with an 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Gonsolin surrendered a pair of solo home runs but settled in to get through five innings. It marked the first time this season Gonsolin allowed more than one homer in a start; he entered the night having given up just three this year.
Furthermore, Gonsolin’s streak of pitching a minimum of six innings was snapped at six consecutive starts. He’d never done so in back-to-back outings prior to the streak beginning.
After Albert Almora Jr. gave the Reds a lead with his solo blast in the second inning, Gonsolin retired the next nine batters.
That allowed the Dodgers to overcome their deficit with a blend of slugging and small ball.
Their scoring started on a Will Smith solo home run with two outs in the first inning. After back-to-back hard-hit grounders from Gavin Lux and Trea Turner that each went for a single, Freddie Freeman pulled a two-run double down the right-field line.
Freeman did get thrown out on his attempt to reach third base, which cost the Dodgers a run as Smith followed with a single and Chris Taylor later hit his first of two doubles.
Justin Turner helped ease some of the frustration from the missed opportunity by leading off the fourth inning with a double. Eddy Alvarez advanced him with a sacrifice bunt and Lux’s sac fly brought Turner in to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2. The sacrifice bunt was the Dodgers’ first of the season.
Tyler Mahle kept L.A. at bay from there and worked around plenty of traffic while allowing 12 hits and throwing 111 pitches over six innings. However, the Reds’ bullpen was unable to keep the score close.
With one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Freeman’s drive to left-center field hit off the wall for a three-run triple. It gave Freeman a game-high five RBI.
Trea Turner accomplishes first with Dodgers
Having already extended his hitting streak to 13 games, Turner helped set up Freeman’s bases-clearing triple by reaching on an infield single. That gave Turner his first four-hit game since being traded to the Dodgers at the deadline last year.
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