CCiinncciinnnnaattii RReeddss MMeeddiiaa CClliippss AAuugguusstt 2233rrdd,, 22001166 Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings August 23, 2016 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1990-The Cincinnati Enquirer sponsors a lunchtime base-throwing contest to see if Lou Piniella’s 35-foot toss during a game two nights earlier could be topped. Mayor Charlie Luken wins the contest with a 43 ¼ foot toss and Mary Krutko of WKRC-TV wins the women’s division with a toss of 40 feet. MLB.COM Reds roughed up by Dodgers in series finale By Mark Sheldon and Cody Pace / MLB.com | August 22nd, 2016 CINCINNATI -- If the Dodgers' bats came alive in Sunday's win, they were downright perky on Monday. With seven home runs, including four slugged during the top of the fifth inning, Los Angeles took a wild 18-9 victory over the Reds to gain a split of their four-game series. Adrian Gonzalez did the most damage with three homers and a career-high eight RBIs, including a three-run shot in the first inning, a solo homer in the six-run fifth and another three-run homer in the seventh. The win helped inch the Dodgers' lead in the National League West standings to one game over the idle Giants ahead of the rivals' three-game series that opens on Tuesday. "There was a lot of good things," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Obviously, Adrian had a career day and Chase [Utley], Corey [Seager], guys were on base all game and to see that these guys didn't let up and continue to put together at-bats, run the bases, hit some balls out of the ballpark, very excited for our offense." The Dodgers are the second team this season to hit seven homers in a game. The last team do it was the White Sox, who launched seven in a 10-8 loss to the Blue Jays on June 25. "The majority of the days you feel really good, as some of my games have shown. And then some days it's just not there for no rhyme or reason that I'm aware of," said Reds starter Homer Bailey, who was tagged for six earned runs and nine hits over 2 1/3 innings in his fifth start back from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third inning against Bailey. But Cincinnati -- aided by Joey Votto's three-RBI day where he was a homer away from the cycle -- worked its way back. Its three runs in the third inning cut Scott Kazmir's day short and added another run in the fourth inning to make it a 6-5 game. • Kazmir slated to have MRI on Tuesday In the top of the fifth, the Dodgers' offense erupted and blew the game open against reliever Josh Smith. Rookies Andrew Toles hit a two-run homer and Rob Segedin made it back-to-back long balls -- both the first of their careers -- and Seager added a two-run shot. With Smith out, Gonzalez smoked a first-pitch homer against Jumbo Diaz to reopen a large gap that the Reds could not close a second time. Gonzalez's third homer came in the seventh against Blake Wood to make it an eight-run game. It was the fourth time in the history of Great American Ball Park that there was a seven-homer game, but it was the first time it was done by the visiting team. The seven homers given up also tied a record for Reds pitchers that was most recently achieved this season on May 31 at Colorado. It was the first time the Dodgers hit that many since Sept. 18, 2006, vs. the Padres. The 18 runs and 21 hits were season highs for Dodgers hitters and the most allowed this season by Cincinnati. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Seager's 22nd: According to Statcast™, Seager's fifth-inning blast had an exit velocity of 103 mph and landed 401 feet away from home plate. The homer was his 22nd of the season, tying the Dodgers' franchise record for a shortstop, set in 1930 by Glenn Wright. Seager batted .692 in the series with five RBIs, and he has a .343 average in his last 92 games since starting the season with a .243 mark in his first 28 games. "It's cool whenever," Seager said. "That's not why you're out here playing, but when it happens, it's something to kind of celebrate at the end of the year." Solid combo: Jose Peraza and Votto thrice jump-started the Reds' efforts to get back into the game. In the three-run bottom of the third, Peraza hit a leadoff double to left field and scored on Votto's RBI single. In the fourth, Peraza hit a one-out single and scored from first base on Votto's RBI double to the left-field wall. In the sixth, after Peraza reached on an infield hit, Votto's liner to right field was misplayed by a diving Toles and went for a RBI triple that put Votto a homer away from hitting for the natural cycle. Peraza had four hits in the game, a career high. "That's my goal right now, get on base and try to be in scoring position. After that, let those guys do their job and bring me in," said Peraza, a former Dodger, via translator Julio Morillo. For whom the bell Toles: Toles and Segedin became the first players in Dodgers history to hit their first Major League homers in consecutive at-bats. It was the second time teammates hit their first career home runs back-to-back this month, following Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and first baseman Tyler Austin in their Aug. 13 debuts, and the fourth time in the last 30 years, per the Elias Sports Bureau. "Andrew, just getting called up, put a lot of good swings the last couple days, and for him to get his first homer, which was actually a big one to change the momentum back, and then you see Segedin follow that up with his homer, first homer," Roberts said. "I know that their teammates were very excited for those two guys to get their first two homers." First batter blues: It was a dismal day for the Reds' bullpen, and two of Gonzalez's homers helped the group extend a dubious club record. His shots against Diaz and Wood were the 24th and 25th times this season that a Cincinnati reliever gave up a home run vs. his first batter faced. That's also the most in the Major Leagues since the 25 first-batter homers allowed by the Rays' bullpen in 2007. "They were swinging it and swinging it well and swinging it comfortably," Reds manager Bryan Price said of the Dodgers against all of his relievers. "Sometimes when you start things like that, they're really hard to stop. You get into your middle relief guys and the game's kind of out of control a little bit." QUOTABLE "Doesn't ring a bell, Chavez Ravine, Marlon Anderson, Nomar [Garciaparra], doesn't ring a bell. … I was in left field, watching one go over my head, a couple in right center. Yeah, I saw it. I remember it." -- Roberts, who was the Padres' left fielder the last time the Dodgers hit seven homers in a game and four in one inning "What do you get out of them? You get to learn what persistence is and what respect for the game is. I think we showed that today, as ugly as it was. As much as we didn't want to go through it, there was some effort at the end and I appreciated that." -- Price, on his offense providing several good performances amid the blowout loss HOLT PITCHES IN Things were so rough on Monday for the Reds' pitching staff that reserve outfielder Tyler Holt was used to pitch the ninth inning. Holt did something pitchers from both teams struggled to do -- worked a 1-2-3 inning while using five pitches. It was the first time the Reds had a position player pitch since Skip Schumaker took the mound on Aug. 21, 2014, during an 8-0 loss to the Braves. UPON FURTHER REVIEW In the top of the first inning, the Reds challenged the safe call at the plate when Joc Pederson scored on Toles' sacrifice fly, just ahead of a good throw from left fielder Adam Duvall and the tag from Tucker Barnhart. After a brief review, the call from home- plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth was confirmed. WHAT'S NEXT Dodgers: The Dodgers head back home for a pivotal three-game series against the Giants, who trail the Dodgers by a game in the NL West. Kenta Maeda takes the mound for the Dodgers against Madison Bumgarner for the 7:10 p.m. PT first pitch. Reds: A two-game series vs. the Rangers begins at 7:10 p.m. ET with Dan Straily having an opportunity to right the ship for the Reds' pitching staff. Straily is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last seven starts that have all been won by Cincinnati. Holt knuckles down, pitches 1-2-3 ninth Bailey, four Reds relievers struggle in loss to Dodgers By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | August 22nd, 2016 CINCINNATI -- Sometimes baseball can be a nutty game, indeed. In a blowout game on Monday between the Reds and Dodgers that had no shortage of scoring, it took an outfielder to have the best inning pitched.