Dodgers win 4th straight on Jackie Robinson Day

The Dodgers celebrated the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier with their fourth-straight win on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson combined to pitch one-run ball in 8 IP in the 3-1 win over the Reds. I’m not sure how often Dave Roberts will use the Gonsolin-Anderson duo piggybacking off each other, but it’s been a promising strategy thus far for the Dodgers.

Smooth Sliding

The Dodgers scratched out a run against Vladimir Gutierrez in the home half on the second. Max Muncy opened the frame with a booming double to right field followed by a walk to Justin Turner. Chris Taylor’s two-out base hit brought home Muncy. For some reason, Dino Ebel sent JT home who ended the inning with an out at the plate.

The Dodgers added another run in the third on a Trea Turner RBI triple, scoring Gavin Lux. As Trea Turner, perhaps channeling Jackie Robinson, slid smoothly into third. With the triple, he extended hitting streak to 26 games dating back to last season.

As scheduled, Tyler Anderson came in to relieve Gonsolin after four innings and pitched a scoreless top of the fifth.

The Boys in Blue loaded the bases with nobody out against Gutierrez, but were only able to muster one more run in the bottom of the 5th. Lux showed off his wheels with a speedy leadoff triple, raising his batting average to .400 in the early season. Gutierrez plunked Mookie in the back and walked Freeman to give the Dodgers another prime scoring opportunity.

David Bell brought in right-hander Jeff Hoffman to face Trea Turner with the bases juiced. Hoffman got Turner to chase a slider for strike three, a huge out for the Reds. But Hoffman walked Justin Turner thereafter, making it a 3-0 game.

Old Friend Alert

The Reds got on the board in the top of the 6th, their only run of the game against Dodgers’ pitching. Ironically, the lone run was thanks to an RBI base hit by old friend Kyle Farmer.

There was some tension when Joey Votto was beaned by an Anderson changeup. This spurred a few choice words toward the mound from Votto. Votto was nearly as angry as me when I had to go through all the trouble of setting up Apple TV + to watch the game this afternoon.

The Reds’ bullpen kept them within striking distance going into the top of the 9th down by two. Craig Kimbrel came out of the Dodgers’ bullpen for the first time in a home game and collected his second save of the season with a scoreless 9th to give the Dodgers the 3-1 victory.

Friday particulars

WP — Tyler Anderson (1-0): 4 IP, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts on 55 pitches (37 strikes)

LP — Vladimir Gutierrez (0-2): 4 IP. 3 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts on 78 (46 strikes)

S — Craig Kimbrel (2)

Up next

Julio Urías (0-1, 13.50 ERA, 4.000 WHIP) looks to bounce back after a disappointing season debut as the Dodgers go for the series win against the Reds. Rookie right-hander Hunter Greene (1-0, 5.40 ERA, 1.200 WHIP) makes his second big league start for the Reds. The 22-year old from L.A. struck out seven in five innings of work for his first win in his MLB debut April 10. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. PT on SportsNet LA.