CINCINNATI -- Throughout the Dodgers' midsummer skid, they haven't quite been in sync. A badly slumping offense seemed the culprit for the team's struggles midway through July, while a rotation trending in the right direction was offset by a leaky bullpen.
So in many regards, Monday night's 5-2 victory over the Reds marked the Dodgers' most complete win in quite some time.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a run on a forceout in the first inning but held the Reds scoreless over the rest of his seven strong frames. Mookie Betts reached and scored three times. Shohei Ohtani (two-run double), Teoscar Hernández (two RBI singles) and Freddie Freeman (RBI single) all produced at the top of the order.
It was just the kind of effort that the Dodgers believed they were capable of, even as they struggled to put all the pieces together.
"I think," manager Dave Roberts said, "that it wasn't perfect. … But I think overall, it's kind of what I envision from our ballclub."
Here are three takeaways from the Dodgers' series-opening win at Great American Ball Park:
Ace leads the way
Yamamoto emerged as the ace of the Dodgers' rotation in the first half, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. The 26-year-old right-hander dealt with some inconsistency after a stellar opening month, but recently, he's looked a lot more like the early-season version of himself.
In his past five starts, Yamamoto has completed seven innings three times. That span also includes the shortest start of his Major League career -- two-thirds of an inning against the Brewers on July 7 -- and a five-inning effort against the Twins last Tuesday.
“My stuff today was really good," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. "But compared to my last outing, when I made it only five innings, compared to that, I think I did a good job today.”
There was some late drama when Blake Treinen entered in a non-save situation in the bottom of the ninth and gave up a run in his first appearance since being activated from the 60-day injured list. He loaded the bases with two outs, but rookie Jack Dreyer took over and was able to end the threat.
From the top
On the season, the Dodgers' top four in the lineup has been the best in the National League in terms of OPS (.858), second in the Majors only to the Yankees (.865). But Ohtani, Betts, Freeman and Hernández have all individually slumped at various times since the beginning of June, coinciding with the team's overall downtick in production in July.
The Dodgers' lineup is much deeper than its heavy hitters at the top, but those key bats set the tone. And it's a much more dangerous offense when the top of the order is rolling.
"The offense is predicated on those guys and revolves around those guys," Roberts said. "I did like the way early on in the game that Shohei got Mookie over to third base and Teo drove them in, and [he’s] still shortening up his swing to make a productive out. … But yeah, it's all predicated on those guys being good. That's kind of why they're on the roster."
Aches and pains
It's not uncommon for big leaguers to be nursing minor ailments in the second half, but the Dodgers are monitoring some lingering injuries that could potentially require IL stints. Hyeseong Kim has been playing through a nagging left shoulder issue, while Tommy Edman aggravated the right ankle that sidelined him earlier this year while running the bases on Sunday.
Kim went 0-for-3 and reached on an error, and Roberts said Edman's ankle prevented him from playing defense on Monday night. The Dodgers are weighing whether either needs to go on the IL, and if a move is made ahead of Tuesday's middle game, they'll call up infielder Alex Freeland, the team's No. 3 prospect and MLB Pipeline's No. 35 overall.
Freeland is hitting .253 with a .798 OPS in 94 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City and plays quality defense on the left side of the infield. While Kim and even Edman feel good enough to play, the team may need to draw the line for them.
"It is a blurred line," Roberts said. "The players obviously feel that they're not hurt, where they can play and post, which is great. But the line of, ‘Are you still hurting the team, hurting yourself?’ That's the thing that the organization, the training staff, we've got to make that decision."