The Marlins, though, are more helpless than usual against left-handed pitchers and are 8-31 this season against southpaw starters.
Lodolo was not picture-perfect but thanks to another hit barrage by his teammates, he and the Cincinnati Reds were able to maul the Marlins, 8-2.
And it was another bright lights night for Elly De La Cruz. After crushing two homers and two doubles in Monday’s 10-3 win, De La Cruz’s encore was four more hits, two doubles, two singles, two RBI and two runs scored.
His two-day work sheet: 8 for 10, two homers, four doubles, five RBi and five runs scored. And on Tuesday he added his 58th stolen base, a theft of third base.
After scoring 10 runs on 15 hits with four home runs on Monday, the Reds produced eight runs on 13 hits with two more homers Tuesday.
Over their last four games, the Reds have homered 10 times with Tyler Stephenson and Ty France providing a pair Tuesday.
Stephenson’s 14th homer on the first pitch of the second inning, set a career-best and he has homered eight times in his last 14 games. And it gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.
France homered for the second straight night, a bases-empty blast leading off the fifth, giving the Reds a 7-2 lead.
The Reds put it away in the fourth with a four-run outburst against Miami starter Max Meyer, a No. 1 draft pick and third overall in 2021. He spent all of last season recuperating from Tommy John surgery and was making his sixth start this season.
Stephenson drove in a run in that inning with a single.
“I sort of made a joke with umpire Alan Porter ... I’ve been leading off so many time this year. Porter asked me, ‘Are you ready,’ because I have to into the dugout and change (out of his catching gear),” said Stephenson during a post-game interview with Bally Sports Ohio.
Ready? He drove that pitch, an 87 mph slider, 418 feet that crash landed on a grassy knoll behind the center field wall.
“I wasn’t planning to swing and then I saw a mistake up in the zone and swung. And I’m glad I did,” said Stephenson.
Lodolo, the Reds talented left-hander, pitched six innings and gave up two runs on only two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Miami’s first batter, Xavier Edwards doubled, extending his on-base streak to 22 games. Hill’s two-run single was the only other hit off Lodolo.
He went to three-ball counts a dozen times but most of the night he scrambled back to record an out.
For example, in the third inning he went to 3-and-2 counts on three straight batters and struck out all three.
Then there was the fourth inning when he walked three batters and two scored on Derek Hill’s single. But by then the Reds were up, 6-0.
So how did Lodolo look to Stephenson, his catcher?
“He was in a groove early on,” he said. “He had command of everything. That one inning when they scored (fourth) he just fell behind some guys. But he went right back out the next inning and did what he needed to do.”
Lodolo pitched a 1-2-3 fifth and hit a batter in the sixth but retired the other three and his night was done after 99 pitches.
After many lethargic offensive games in the recent past, the Reds have scored 18 runs on 28 hits in two games against a mostly minor-league roster employed by the Marlins.
“We have an unbelievable player named Elly in the game,” said Stephenson. “What he has done the last couple of games has been unbelievable.
“He was on base about every at bat and when he is on base, what he can do with his stolen bases and his speed causing errors ... I mean, that’s huge,” Stephenson added. “It’s contagious. When he gets on base, he is going to be on second or third within a couple of pitches. That’s a quick runner in scoring position. What he can do on the basepaths is really important.”
In addition to De La Cruz’s four hits and Stephenson’s two hits, Jeimer Candelario added two hits and a walk and Noelvi Marte produced a pair of hits that included a double.
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