Holmberg struggles, Reds fall to Dodgers 8-3

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Yasiel Puig and Kike Hernandez homered during a five-run second inning, Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner also went deep, and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 Saturday night.

Brett Anderson (7-7) shrugged off a two-run homer in the first by Todd Frazier and yielded one more run during the rest of his six-inning stint. The seven-year veteran allowed six hits and recorded only one flyball out in his first career start against Cincinnati.

David Holmberg (1-2) threw 64 pitches in two-plus innings and retired only five of the 15 batters he faced in his 10th big league start -- including Anderson on a sacrifice bunt and Turner on a double-play grounder.

The 24-year-old lefty, inserted into the rotation on July 30 following the trade of Johnny Cueto to Kansas City, was charged with seven runs, five hits and four walks. The three homers Holmberg gave up came during a span of nine batters.

Gonzalez made it 8-3 in the fourth against Pedro Villarreal with his team-high 24th homer and the Dodgers' NL-high 144th -- already 10 more than they had all of last season.

It was Cincinnati's 17th consecutive game with a rookie starting pitcher -- the longest such streak by any club since September 1997, when St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa used a rookie starter in 19 straight games.

In all, eight rookie pitchers have started a combined 63 games for the Reds this season, the most by their rotation since 2001 (77).

Cincinnati has lost seven of nine.

Frazier, who won last month's All-Star Home Run Derby by beating the Dodgers' Joc Pederson with his final swing, gave the Reds a 2-0 lead in the first with a first-pitch drive over the fence in right-center after a two-out single by Joey Votto.

It was Frazier's 29th homer and major league-best 63rd extra-base hit. The Dodgers grabbed a 5-2 lead one inning later.

Puig ignited the rally with his leadoff homer to center field on a full count.

Votto, who leads the NL with 41 multihit games, cut the margin to 5-3 in the third with a two-out RBI double.

But Turner, a seventh-round draft pick by Cincinnati in 2006, responded in the bottom half with his first homer in 62 career at-bats against the Reds to that point.

UP NEXT

Reds: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-7) is 2-0 with a 2.60 ERA in eight road starts since back-to-back losses in Atlanta and Pittsburgh May 1 and 7. He won his big league debut with the Marlins, May 14, 2014, a 13-3 win at Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers: RHP Zack Greinke (12-2) is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA over his last 10 starts -- lowering his overall ERA to a major league-best 1.59. He is trying to become the first pitcher in franchise history to record five consecutive months with an ERA under 2.00 during the same season. The others with four straight are Sandy Koufax (1966), Clayton Kershaw (2014) and Larry Cheney (1916).