CINCINNATI -- In some ways, the Dodgers had no business coming out on top of Tuesday night's 5-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. But then again, they had no business losing either.
Tyler Glasnow had his shakiest outing since returning from the 60-day IL, allowing four runs across four-plus innings and ending his evening with more walks (five) than hits (four) or strikeouts (three). The offense got the job done, but also struck out 14 times -- and four K's belonged to Shohei Ohtani, matching his career high.
But the Dodgers found a way to win, a quality that has been lacking as they've scuffled through July.
Will Smith came through with a go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the top of the ninth, and Alex Vesia locked it down in the bottom half of the inning to help the Dodgers secure a series win over the Reds. They'll go for the sweep in Wednesday's finale.
"It's huge to get the series win tonight, go up 2-0," Smith said. "We needed a big hit right there. Got it and fought back. A little momentum for tomorrow."
Much like the night before, it took a full-team effort.
There were the big hits -- Smith's game-winner in the ninth inning, as well as his and Freddie Freeman's run-scoring knocks to tie the game in the seventh and Tommy Edman's two-run homer off Nick Lodolo in the second.
But there were also smaller things that manager Dave Roberts appreciated just as much, such as Michael Conforto drawing walks in the seventh and ninth innings to set the table for those rallies. Pinch-runner James Outman scored the go-ahead run from first base in the ninth.
“It's hard to go through the list of quality at-bats right there," Roberts said. "But yeah, Michael, obviously the Will at-bat, Freddie, just on and on. I think that we really put together some good at-bats, found a way to win a ballgame.”
And "the thing that really should get noticed," Roberts said, was when Jack Dreyer inherited the bases loaded with nobody out in the fifth inning and Edman made a sliding play to get the forceout at second on an Elly De La Cruz grounder.
The run that scored on the De La Cruz forceout was the only inherited runner that Dreyer and Ben Casparius allowed to score after taking over from Glasnow, who had surrendered a pair of homers to put the Reds ahead one inning prior. When all was said and done in the fifth, the Dodgers trailed by a pair of runs, a deficit they erased with a two-run seventh inning.
"They were just able to minimize," Smith said. "Jack came in right away, got some weak contact and all that. And then Ben shut the door that inning. Able to limit it to one run, keep us in the ballgame, not let it get out of hand, that was huge."
The arms who followed -- Anthony Banda, Alexis Díaz and Vesia -- did not permit a run the rest of the way.
Smith has been arguably the Dodgers' steadiest hitter this season, leading qualified National Leaguers with a .325 average, more than 20 points higher than the next-closest player, the Marlins' Kyle Stowers (.302).
The three-time All-Star has been especially good in the clutch. Smith is hitting .373 with runners in scoring position, which ranks third among Major Leaguers with at least 90 plate appearances in such situations.
In a scenario like the ninth inning on Tuesday, with the chance to take the lead with only one out remaining, there aren't many other players the Dodgers would rather have at the plate.
"It's honestly just the same approach I have all the time," Smith said of his mindset with two outs. "Just trying to get a pitch to hit and then move forward."
That measured approach has come up big for the Dodgers time and again.
“He just has a great way of controlling the strike zone, not chasing, and he knows how to get a base hit," Roberts said. "I think sometimes people expand, their swing gets too big in the moment. And Will just kind of checks down and puts the barrel to it. Between him and Freddie, with guys in scoring position, there aren't two better guys.”