Puig's walk-off homer in 11th lifts Dodgers over Reds
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Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig ended a scoreless pitchers' duel with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Puig hit a no-doubter with two outs, launching the second pitch he saw from Reds reliever Curtis Partch to left field and lifting Los Angeles to a 1-0 win over visiting Cincinnati in the finale of a four-game set.
"It wasn't a terrible, terrible pitch," said Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco. "It just had a little bit of elevation. Give (Puig) credit."
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The Dodgers won their third straight against the Reds despite setting a club record by striking out a mind-boggling 20 times. Puig contributed to the mark with three whiffs, but delivered against Partch (0-1) as the team improved to 9-1 since the All-Star break and 26-6 in its last 32 games.
Los Angeles now has a 2 1/2-game lead atop the NL West standings. Puig's 10th homer of the season made a winner out of Brandon League (6-3), who was part of a relief corps that didn't allow a hit after starter Chris Capuano left with two gone in the seventh.
"(Capuano) was really good today and so was the bullpen," said Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly.
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Joey Votto had two of Cincinnati's three hits off Capuano.
Reds starter Tony Cingrani was nearly flawless while tossing seven strong innings. He struck out 11, walked one and gave up just a Capuano single.
Cincinnati had several opportunities to break the deadlock, placing a runner in scoring position in three straight innings from the sixth.
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Mesoraco doubled to open the sixth, but wound up being erased on a rundown between third and home. Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario struck out Zack Cozart to end the seventh with two men aboard and bullpen mate Paco Rodriguez retired Chris Heisey on a pop up with a runner on second for the final out in the eighth.
The Dodgers didn't have a runner move into scoring position until Juan Uribe ripped a two-out double in the home eighth. Los Angeles also left two men on base in the 10th.
Game Notes
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For only the second time since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers are 20 games over .500 during a 32-game stretch. They also went 26-6 from April 12-May 18, 1977 ... Cincinnati pitchers broke the team record for strikeouts ... Capuano has held opponents scoreless in four of his last seven starts. He has allowed five earned runs in each of the other three ... Cincinnati reliever Manny Parra made his 19th consecutive scoreless appearance after striking out the only two hitters he faced in the eighth.