Yamamoto One-Hit Gem Trims Dodgers’ NL West Magic Number to Two

Yoshinobu Yamamoto carved through Cincinnati with surgical calm Tuesday night, allowing one hit over seven scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the Reds 4–0 and trimmed their National League West magic number to two. CBS Sports, citing the Associated Press, reported that Yamamoto (14–8) walked two and struck out seven in his team-high 27th start, surrendering only a third-inning double to Elly De La Cruz before retiring 10 batters in a row.

The shutout was Los Angeles’ 12th of the season and the Reds’ 17th blanking of the year. It also marked the second straight night a Dodgers starter worked seven scoreless frames after Tarik Skubal’s gem on Monday. With a playoff berth already secured, the Dodgers (92–59) remain locked on a 13th division title in 14 seasons and a chase for the National League’s top seed.

ESPN mirrored the AP account and framed the win as another step toward clinching, noting Cincinnati’s 81st loss locked in a non-winning season for the Reds (70–81). Teoscar Hernández supplied the early separation, launching his 15th home run after a walk to Kyle Tucker to make it 3–0 in the third. Alex Freeland added a solo shot in the seventh off Pierce Johnson. Freddie Freeman, back after missing three of the previous five games with right-knee soreness, collected three singles and finished 3-for-5 after entering the night hitting just 3-for-30 in his recent stretch.

Rookie Josué De Paula batted leadoff for the first time in only his fifth major-league game and went 0-for-5. De La Cruz kept his on-base streak alive at 22 games dating to Aug. 22, going 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Brock Stewart handled a clean eighth, and Tanner Scott closed it by striking out the side after Cincinnati put runners on first and third in the ninth — Los Angeles’ ninth consecutive victory over the Reds.

Rhett Lowder (6–11) took the loss after five innings, three earned runs, and five hits. Great American Ball Park drew 25,341 on a 2-hour, 28-minute night that underlined how thoroughly Dodgers pitching has owned this matchup late in the year. Blake Snell (4–1, 1.91 ERA) was lined up to face Andrew Abbott (6–11, 4.84) on Wednesday as Los Angeles looked to keep applying pressure on San Diego, which sat 10 games back entering the middle game of the series.

For a club that wrapped a postseason spot on Monday, the remaining September drama is about seeding and September form. Yamamoto’s one-hit masterpiece keeps the rotation’s late surge intact and leaves the Dodgers two combined wins — or Padres losses — from another NL West banner. Cincinnati, meanwhile, is playing out the string against a division leader that has repeatedly refused to gift at-bats, continuing a season-long pattern of shutouts that now sits at a dozen.

The broader National League picture still favors Los Angeles if the staff maintains this standard. Consecutive seven-inning zeroes from Skubal and Yamamoto are the kind of October preview executives chase in September, especially with Freeman finding contact again and mid-order power from Hernández and Freeland arriving on cue. As the magic number ticks toward one, Tuesday’s blanking in Ohio was less a surprise than a reminder: the Dodgers’ path to another division crown runs through the mound first.