Cincinnati Reds IF/OF Gavin Lux helped the Dodgers win the 2024 World Series, then joined the Reds in a January trade.
LOS ANGELES – If this is what the playoffs look like, the Cincinnati Reds have a lot of work to do before any trips back to Dodger Stadium.
Mostly, they’ve got to start looking the part themselves. Including actually earning the trip.
And they’ve got 30 games to get it done.
Because if this series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers was a preview of anything for the Reds it was a prelude to a September post mortem.
A 7-0 loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 25 included just one Reds hit through the first six innings, two Reds errors on the same play and not quite enough playoff-caliber Hunter Greene.
Cincinnati Reds NL playoff standing
It also combined with the New York Mets’ victory over the Philadelphia Phillies earlier in the night to push the Reds to 2 1/2 games behind the Mets for the final National League wild-card position.
Just three days earlier, the Reds were a half-game behind the Mets.
The Reds fell to 3-4 during this nine-game road trip, including losses in four of the past five. And the schedule didn’t get any easier, with two more against the Dodgers and then the playoff-positioned Blue Jays, Mets and Padres looming in three of the next four series after that.
When asked about the Dodger Stadium experience ahead of the series, “playoff atmosphere” was a common theme among players, even in reference to a regular-season game.
And the stars were out in L.A. on this night among the nearly 50,000 fans that filled the classic venue, including Korean pop superstar V throwing out a ceremonial first pitch and actors Jason Bateman and Jeremy Allen White enjoying the game from the first row, behind the Reds dugout.
The playoff vibe got ratcheted a little higher for the Reds before the game when Gavin Lux – traded from the Dodgers in January – got his World Series ring in a presentation that involved most of his old pals from his five years with the Dodgers.
“I hope we can do another one this year,” Lux said. “It’s the carrot in front of your face. It’s why we play the game, and hopefully we can do it again.”
They’ve got a lot of ground to make up just to assure they get the chance.
Cincinnati Reds playoff chances
And if they do leap-frog the Mets for the last spot, it could mean a trip right back to Los Angeles for the first round if the Dodgers hold off the Padres in the NL West.
Which could mean a return engagement on the mound in Game 1 for Hunter Greene, who competed into the sixth inning but didn’t have the sharpness he did in his first two starts back from a groin injury and gave up a pair of home runs to Andy Pages on hanging sliders. He exited after allowing a Freddie Freeman double and walk to Will Smith to start the sixth.
“I thought he was maybe a little over-amped,” manager Terry Francona said. “I get it. But he made two pitches that cost him three runs. Two breaking balls. And the first time he had him 0-2 and missed with three fastballs and then missed with the breaking ball over the middle of the plate.”
Greene, making his third career start at his hometown ballpark, gave up as many earned runs in this one (three) as he did in his first two starts back from a groin injury, when he produced a 2.19 ERA and struck out 21 without a walk in 12 1/3 innings across those starts against the Phillies and Angels.
He struck out three and walked two in this one.
But that wasn’t as much of an issue as the fact the Reds managed only one hit (a Lux double in the second) through the entirety of Greene’s start.
And it only got worse after he left, when Scott Barlow, after striking out two, induced a would-be inning-ending ground ball to short – that rolled through Elly De La Cruz for a two-run errror.
Left fielder Austin Hays responded by unleashing a throw to the plate that sailed over catcher Jose Trevino, allowing the runners to advance, before Barlow got the last out.
A 3-0 deficit was suddenly 5-0 to the defending champs, and the Dodgers added on with a Mookie Betts homer in the seventh and a Pages sacrifice fly in the eighth.
“Barlow seemed like he was real close to wiggling out of that, and he got the ground ball,” Francona said. “They just keep coming at you.
“I actually thought we hit some balls pretty good. We had nothing to show for it. But when they spread it out, it got a little tougher.”
Apparently, sometimes when you need Batman, you get Bateman.
