LOS ANGELES — The Reds were facing the kind of game they're going to have to win if they harbor any hope of playing deeper into October this year.
They matched up against a top pitcher from a contending, high-payroll, hot club on the road before a sellout crowd. The Reds responded by beating Zack Greinke and the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2, before a crowd of 53,275 at Dodger Stadium.
Greinke was 5-0 with a 2.36 ERA in his last six starts coming in. The Dodgers had won six in a row and 23 of 28. Since the All-Star break, they lead the majors in runs, hits and slugging.
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"That's a heck of a team over there and we outplayed them," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
It started with Mat Latos outpitching Greinke. The Reds' hitters continued their power surge. Xavier Paul and Jay Bruce homered to account for three of the Reds' runs.
It added up to the Reds' seventh win in ninth games. At 59-44, they are 15 games over .500 for the third time this year.
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"We've got a really good team," Latos said. "The pitching and hitting are coming together. We're playing good defense. When you have a lineup and pitching staff like we have, if you put it together you're going to win a lot of ball games.
Latos (10-3) went 7 2/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits. He walked one and struck out four. He threw 106 pitches, 73 of which were strikes.
"I felt pretty good today," Latos said. "I had a bit of jet lag getting in at 2 in the morning. But, all in all, I can't complain. I was able to work the fastball in pretty good. It had a lot of hump to it."
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Greinke (8-3) went seven innings and allowed four runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out four. He had allowed a total of one run over 22 innings in his previous three starts.
The Reds took the lead in the first. Paul got ahead of Greinke 2-0 in the count. Paul crushed the next pitch to right for his sixth home run of the year.
"I knew in the first inning, down 2-0, he's not looking to walk me there," Paul said. He threw a fastball. It got a little more of the plate than he was looking for."
The Reds added a run in the second. Todd Frazier doubled with one out to extend his hitting streak to eight games. It was his sixth double during the streak. An out later, Cesar Izturis, in his third straight start for the injured Zack Cozart, dropped a single into center to score Frazier and make it 2-0.
"That's the thing you want to do: Jump them early," Baker said. "We didn't exactly jump them. But we got the lead. Latos was really dealing tonight."
The Dodgers got a gift run in the fourth. Rookie sensation Yasiel Puig led off with a single. When Puig aggressively rounded first, center fielder Shin-Soo Choo threw behind him. The throw bounced past first baseman Joey Votto and into the dugout.
It was the first error by a Reds' outfielder since April 28.
Puig was awarded third base. He scored on Adrian Gonzalez's groundout.
Greinke had settled in by then. He retired nine of 10 entering the sixth. Paul led off with a walk, but Votto followed with a double play ball.
Greinke hit Brandon Phillips with a pitch, however, to continue the inning. Bruce made the Dodgers pay by hitting a moon shot out to left field for his 21st homer of the year. That made it 4-1.
"That was huge," Baker said. "That was a big, big home run that we needed."
Latos gave a leadoff double to Carl Crawford in the eighth. Two groundouts got Crawford. Latos was done after allowing a single to Hanley Ramirez. Manny Parra came on to get Andre Ethier to end the eighth.
"I was able to make pitches when I needed to," Latos said. "I jammed a lot of people."
The Reds got the run in the ninth on Choo's two-out single.
"That was big insurance run," Baker said.
Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 24th save. It was a bit of an adventure: strikeout, single, runner takes second on defensive indifference, strikeout, walk, followed by a line drive to left that Chris Heisey caught to end it.
John Fay writes for The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett property.
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