Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

On an extremely hot and humid Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds 5-to-2. The Reds are the only team that doesn’t have an opposing team sweeping them.

For the first time since August 2023, Shohei Ohtani pitched into the fourth but didn’t look right. He couldn’t find the strike zone in the fourth. Therefore, it was not surprising when Ohtani left the game with an injury. He pitched three innings, allowing two runs and striking out four. The official word is that Ohtani had cramps. It was hot and humid, and anyone would have experienced cramps due to dehydration. Ohtani’s right hip was cramping.

Anthony Banda relieved Ohtani and retired three hitters in the fourth.

In his 3.2 innings, Emmet Sheehan pitched satisfactorily, but the first two walks in the eighth set the tone for that inning. James Outman tried to make a spectacular catch but swatted the home run back into the stadium. The Reds scored three runs.

The Dodgers couldn’t do much offensively, and they constantly left men on base. Alex Freeland made his major league debut and had a walk, a single, and a hit by a pitch. In the fourth, after Will Smith walked, Freddie Freeman blasted his only home run in July.