Terry Francona speaks during series against LA Dodgers video
Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona speaks ahead of the National League Wild Card Series game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
LOS ANGELES – Little-known fact about cockroaches:
They actually can be killed.
It’s not easy. It can take a while. Sometimes 163 games plus another six innings.
The Cincinnati Reds learned that the hard way when they ran into $350 million worth of exterminators at Dodger Stadium this week, checking into the roach motel the first night and not checking out the next.
The moneybags Los Angeles Dodgers outscored the overdrawn Reds 18-9 in a two-game, first-round playoff sweep that extended the longest active postseason series drought in American major-league sports by another year.
After their 8-4 elimination loss in Game 2 on Oct. 1, the Reds dropped to 2-15 in postseason games since they last won a playoff series in 1995 – coincidentally in a sweep of the Dodgers.
The team that embraced the cockroach moniker that became a mantra was left for dead at least three times in the final weeks of the season before surviving by winning eight of its last 11 regular-season games to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020 — first in a full season since 2013.
“There were a lot of times when we could have folded, when it seemed like things weren’t going our way,” said first baseman Spencer Steer, who reached base four times in the series. “And there wasn’t any quit. I know you’ve heard that a lot the last couple weeks, but that’s why we’re here.”
But even after a two-out Dodgers error and two-run single from rookie Sal Stewart gave the Reds a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2, the Dodgers flexed the muscle of the second-highest-paid roster in baseball to squish enough of the life out of the Reds lineup and score seven of the last nine runs of a series that never seemed close.
“It sucks,” said second baseman Matt McLain, who reached base three times in the series, including a walk in the two-run eighth. “We had the tying run at the plate. Had them on the ropes a little bit. And it didn’t happen.”
Asked about measuring the accomplishments of the season, McLain said, “It’s too early for that. We wanted to win here.”
Now that they’ve figured out their path to the playoffs, the Reds get 4 1/2 months to start working on next year and figuring out how to close the sizable gap between themselves and the title-tested defending World Series champs.
Almost everywhere they turned for two nights in Los Angeles they were reminded at the very least of the economic gap that separates them:
Dodgers Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $300 Japanese free agent, retired 13 straight after Stewart’s first-inning single and had a 7-2 lead by the time he departed with two out in the seventh, having struck out nine.The Dodgers’ $365 million shortstop, Mookie Betts, doubled three times and singled in the Game 2 win, driving in three runs — one night after reaching base three times.Their $700 million unicorn of a DH/pitcher, Shohei Ohtani, contributed a mere run-scoring single and intentional walk in the clincher. But he also was the high-powered catalyst in the opener, hitting two home runs, including leading off the first inning of the series with a statement shot on Hunter Greene’s fourth pitch of the game.Speaking of Game 1, that was $182 million lefty Blake Snell shoving for the Dodgers in the opening start. The two-time Cy Young winner — who no-hit the Reds last year — pitched six scoreless innings until the Reds finally scored in a Dodger rout.
The Dodgers move on to face the Phillies in the Division Series.
The Reds face the cold, hard winter facts that they’re a slugger late and more than a few dollars short in their efforts to win a playoff series for the first time in what soon will be more than 30 years. Much less their first World Series since 1990.
“There’s going to be narratives written out that because of the way the score ended the last two nights that we didn’t belong,” veteran closer Emilio Pagán said. “But we were more than in those games. For anybody that doesn’t believe that, they can go ask Dave Roberts. You could see it on his face. He treated us with respect. He respected every inning. That’s why he went to his relievers that he did in the spots that he did. We were in those games.
“And hopefully these guys realize that they belong. They belong with the upper echelon of players and teams.”
The Reds trailed by five or more late in the game for the second straight night Wednesday. But they rallied late to create big scoring opportunities – including leaving eight men on base from the sixth through the eighth innings in Game 2.
“There’s a lot of fight in this clubhouse, a lot of guys that want to win,” veteran pitcher Nick Martinez said.
Back-to-back strikeouts of Stewart and Elly De La Cruz ended the sixth with the bases loaded. And the Reds had the tying run at the plate in leadoff man TJ Friedl with the bases loaded in the eighth before Friedl took a 2-2 pitch for a called third strike.
“These guys become your family away from family,” Friedl said. “You spend every day with this group for seven months. You pop champagne with these guys. You have great moments with these guys. And then it just comes to an end.
“Unfortunately, it’s not the way we wanted it to end. But I’m just really grateful for the group we had this year. We fought really hard. We all love each other a lot.”