For Dodgers, pressure can fuel elevated play when it matters most

LOS ANGELES -- When offensive consistency eluded the Dodgers last week, manager Dave Roberts stressed the need for more team at-bats, rather than trying to do too much as individuals.

That mentality was on display as the Dodgers rode a four-run sixth inning to a 6-3 win over the Reds on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, sealing a series victory. Los Angeles has won three in a row and will go for its first four-game winning streak since June 29-July 3, which propelled the club to a season-high nine-game lead in the NL West at the time.

Nowadays, it's a much tighter race, with the Dodgers sitting just one game ahead of the Padres in the division. It's a time when L.A. needs to play its best baseball, and these past few games have been a step in the right direction.

"It's been really fun to watch our guys play at the level that they're capable of," Roberts said. "And I just say that as far as the intent of energy and compete."

L.A. got five strong frames from Clayton Kershaw, who later said he didn't feel like he had his best stuff from the start. Even so, he struck out six without issuing a walk. He gave up a run on two hits in the first before retiring his final 14 batters in order.

"Will [Smith] kind of guided me through that and picked the right spots to throw different pitches, mix in as many fastballs as we needed to," Kershaw said of his catcher. "It worked out through five. I don't know how much longer it would've worked out, but it worked out through five."

The veteran southpaw left with a one-run lead, but it wasn't long before his team broke the game open.

Smith started the bottom of the sixth off with a solo homer, his 16th of the season. While the backstop has been one of the Dodgers' most consistent hitters, he has been scuffling of late. Entering Tuesday, Smith was hitting .132 with a .481 OPS since Aug. 4.

"The last couple weeks, he's been off a little bit, missing pitches," Roberts said. "But that was a really, really good swing. So hopefully that gets him reset. But he's still working hard, trying to figure some things out with his swing."

After the long ball, the Dodgers kept the line moving. Andy Pages' one-out double chased Reds starter Nick Martinez from the game. Lefty reliever Brent Suter entered and got pinch-hitter Alex Call to ground into a fielder's choice, which erased Pages at third base. But that was the only out Suter would record.

Kiké Hernández, in his first game action since returning from the IL on Monday, singled for his second hit of the game. Miguel Rojas came in to pinch-hit and hit a fly ball to the warning track, where center fielder Noelvi Marte -- making his first big league start at the position -- could not get a glove on it. The ball dropped for a double, plating both Call and Hernández. Rojas later came around to score when Shohei Ohtani punched a single into right field.

The only drawback of the big inning was that Call felt something in his lower back while rounding the bases, leading to Roberts removing him from the game in favor of Justin Dean when the Dodgers took the field the next half-inning. But Roberts said the level of concern is low, and there's a chance Call will make it into the series finale.

The insurance runs ended up being necessary, as Ben Casparius surrendered a two-run homer to Austin Hays that brought the Reds within three runs in the seventh. But that was the only blemish on an otherwise strong night from the bullpen, capped by Tanner Scott's first save since returning from the IL.

After briefly falling out of first place in the NL West twice in the past two weeks, the Dodgers are aware of how important it will be to their title defense to play well down the stretch. As tough as a close division race can be, they feel that going through it could help bring out the best in themselves.

"I think this is good for everybody," Hernández said Monday. "We're gonna be playing playoff atmosphere games from here on out. Typically in the years that I've been here, the years where we don't win the division very early on are the years that we end up playing the best towards October."