The release was almost cathartic, the frustration of a brutal homestand filled with blown leads and late-inning losses and the tension of another tight game dissipating with every clutch two-out hit by the Dodgers in the eighth inning Wednesday.
First came the tack-on runs, a Chris Taylor run-scoring triple and an AJ Pollock RBI single that turned a two-run lead into a four-run cushion. Then came the “jug runs,” as manager Dave Roberts calls them, baseball-speak for “going for the jugular,” two-run singles by Matt Beaty and Mookie Betts.
By the time the inning was over, the Dodgers sent 11 men to the plate and scored six runs for an eventual 8-0 victory over Cincinnati, a taut pitchers’ duel between Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw and Reds right-hander Sonny Gray ending with a position player on the mound for the Reds.