Puig Hits Walkoff Homer In 11th To Beat Reds 1-0, Dodgers Take Series 3-1
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Yasiel Puig homered with two outs in the 11th inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
Cincinnati pitchers set a franchise record with 20 strikeouts. Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Tim Federowicz each fanned three times as the Dodgers established their highest single-game total for strikeouts since the franchise moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles following the 1957 season.
Puig drove a 2-out, 0-1 pitch deep into the left-field pavilion against rookie Curtis Partch (0-1) for his 10th homer and 23rd RBI in 48 big league games. The excitable rookie circled the bases and slid into home plate, where teammates were waiting for him.
The NL West leaders won for the 26th time in 32 games and extended their lead to 2 1/2 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost 1-0 to San Diego.
Brandon League (6-3) pitched two hitless innings for the win.
Puig's first game-ending homer in the major leagues came after the Dodgers were held to one hit by Tony Cingrani through the first seven innings.
Cingrani, facing a lineup missing leadoff hitter Carl Crawford for the second straight day because of a high temperature, tied a career high with 11 strikeouts in his 12th big league start before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter.
The only hit against the 24-year-old left-hander was a two-out single through the box in the third inning by Dodgers pitcher Chris Capuano -- his first hit of the season. Mark Ellis followed with a towering drive toward the left-field corner that Chris Heisey caught right in front of the short fence.
Los Angeles didn't get another baserunner until Puig walked on a full count leading off the seventh, but the rookie was picked off first base with Gonzalez -- the team's RBI leader -- at the plate.
Capuano held the Reds to three hits over 6 2-3 innings. The left-hander retired 15 of his first 16 batters, less than 24 hours after teammate Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched two-hit ball over seven innings and retired his final 13 in a 4-1 victory.
Joey Votto's two-out single in the first was Cincinnati's only hit until Devin Mesoraco snapped a string of 13 straight Cincinnati outs with a leadoff double in the sixth. Mesoraco advanced to third on Cingrani's sacrifice bunt, and Reds manager Dusty Baker put on a suicide squeeze with Derrick Robinson at the plate.
Mesoraco had to return to third after the rookie fouled off an 0-1 pitch, and was retired in a rundown after Robinson grounded out to third baseman Juan Uribe with the infield playing in.
The Reds wasted another leadoff double in the seventh by Votto.
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