Cincinnati Reds vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: 2020 NLCS simulation

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, its the Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger show.

Hoping to make it a clean sweep at home, Bell nominated Trevor Bauer (10-8, 4.23) to make his first post-season start of the 2020 simulation in Game 2 of the NLCS. Bauer made one division series appearance, relieving Wade Miley and pitching four and one-third innings in the fourth game, a 8-0 defeat.

Bauer faced the Los Angeles Dodgers once during the regular season, an 8-5 loss July 1 against his opponent on this day, Walker Buehler.

Buehler (15-6, 3.20) was coming off a victory in the opening game of the division series with Arizona.

The Dodgers made short work of Bauer.  One out into the second, A.J. Pollock rolled a grounder that Suarez couldn’t handle at third, for an error. The next hitter, Hernandez, exacted the ultimate price for that bobble, a two-run home run into the left-field seats.

The Dodgers weren’t through. Catcher Matt Barnes doubled, Bauer walked Buehler, and Betts loaded the bases with a bloop single to right. Seager lined a base hit to left scoring Barnes and Buehler and also driving Bauer from the game.

If that four-run rally disheartened the Cincinnati Reds, they recovered nicely. After Curt Casali opened the third inning with a base on balls, first baseman Kyle Farmer homered into those same left-field seats to get two of the runs back. One out later, Freddy Galvis followed Nick Senzel’s base hit with another home run, this one to right, tying the game at 4-4.

But Roberts stayed with Buehler, and he steadied nicely, retiring the Reds in order through the seventh. By then the Dodgers had re-established their lead thanks to a seventh-inning uprising against Robert Stephenson and Reed.

With one out in the seventh, Stephenson walked Seager, prompting Bell to summon Reed to face Bellinger. The lefty-vs-lefty strategy may have made sense on paper, but Bellinger ‘s base hit gave right-handed Justin Turner a look at Reed. Turner punched a base hit into right field, scoring Seager and sending Bellinger to third.

Reed lasted only as long as it took him to walk Joc Pederson, filling the bases.   Michael Lorenzen was brought on to deal with Pollock, whose fly ball to right was deep enough to get Bellinger home with the inning’s second run. The third scored seconds later when Hernandez singled to left, scoring Turner. When left fielder Aquino bobbled the ball, Pederson also tried to score but Aquino gunned him down at home plate to end the inning.

The Dodgers played add-on against Garrett in the eighth. He walked Betts, then fired a high fastball that Seager deposited over the center-field wall to make the score 9-4. The next batter, Bellinger, took  Garrett deep to right, knocking him from the mound and summoning Pedro Strop as Cincy’s sixth pitcher of the game.

The Reds added a pair of consolation runs in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a Barnes error, a double by pinch hitter Phillip Ervin and a Nick Senzel base hit. But it was far from enough, the Dodgers heading for home with a 10-6 win.

Los Angeles        040    000    330 – 10 13  2

Cincinnati            004    000    020 –    6   5  2

W: Buehler. L: Stephenson.