Latos Struggles As Reds Dismantle Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billy Hamilton had a career-high four hits, including a solo homer, to help the Cincinnati Reds defeat former teammate Mat Latos and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 10-3 Thursday night for just their third victory in nine games.
Hamilton went 4 for 4 with four runs scored and two RBIs for the Reds, who piled up 15 hits while never trailing against a team coming off consecutive shutout victories.
Rookie Keyvius Sampson (2-1) allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked one in winning his second straight.
Latos (4-9) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Brandon Phillips went 2 for 5, drove in three runs and scored a run on a night when Joey Votto went 1 for 4 and drew his major league-leading 32nd walk for the Reds.
Eugenio Suarez's three-run homer off Luis Avilan highlighted a four-run sixth and extended the Reds' lead to 9-2. Phillips' groundout to the pitcher scored Tucker Barnhart, who walked.
Phillips and Suarez had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth, keeping the Reds ahead 5-1.
Latos struck out seven and walked one in his first matchup against his old team since being traded by the Reds to Miami last December. Latos went 33-16 with a 3.31 ERA during three seasons in Cincinnati. He was acquired by the Dodgers last month.
He was following Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, who combined for 14 innings in the Dodgers' back-to-back shutouts against Washington. Kershaw flirted with a perfect game in Wednesday's 3-0 victory, retiring the first 16 batters he faced.
After Greinke and Kershaw spared the bullpen for two games, the Dodgers were forced to dip into it heavily.
Joc Pederson homered with two outs in the fourth, Adrian Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Pederson added another in the sixth for the Dodgers.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: INF Justin Turner was reinstated from the 15-day DL after recovering from a right thigh skin infection that he said was MRSA, a contagious and antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria. He came off the bench in the fifth inning Thursday and will start Friday.
UP NEXT
Reds: LH John Lamb makes his major league debut. He was acquired from the Royals last month as part of the Johnny Cueto deal. He'll be the seventh Reds player and sixth starting pitcher to make his big league debut this season.
Dodgers: LH Alex Wood (7-7, 3.72) will make his second start since being acquired last month from the Braves. He's allowed just eight home runs this season in 125 2/3 innings.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
