Dodgers 2, Reds 1
Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run home run and Clayton Kershaw struck out eight as Los Angeles won for the seventh time in eight games since the All-Star break.
Kershaw (10-6) won for the fifth time in six starts, allowing a run on six hits over eight innings. Carl Crawford went 3-for-4 while Adrian Gonzalez singled and scored a run for Los Angeles, which improved to 16-5 in July and a major league-best 24-6 since June 22.
Homer Bailey (5-10) posted his finest start since tossing his second career no-hitter July 2, giving up two runs and seven hits over seven innings. Jay Bruce, who kept Ramirez from scoring from third base in the fourth with a spectacular throw from right field, drove in the Reds’ only run with a single.
Kershaw and Bailey traded zeroes through five frames before Gonzalez opened the sixth with a single to right. Ramirez delivered two pitches later, turning on a 1-0 curveball that barely cleared the left-field fence.
Cincinnati countered with its only run in the seventh when Phillips doubled with one out and Bruce followed with a line drive hit. Kershaw minimized the damage thereafter, stranding a runner in scoring position in his final two innings before Kenley Jansen retired the heart of the Reds’ order in the ninth for his 13th save.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ramirez went 2-for-4 Friday and is batting 14-for-36 with three homers and eight RBIs in eight games since the All-Star break. … Joey Votto doubled in the first to extend his major league-leading streak of reaching base to 38 games. Ramirez’s 34-game streak ranks second. … The Dodgers are a National League-best 33-16 against the Reds since 2006, including a 16-7 mark against them at home.