CINCINNATI (AP) - The shortest outing of Bronson Arroyo’s season might be the last of his career.
The 40-year-old right-hander was roughed up for five runs and seven hits in just three innings on Sunday as the Los Angeles Dodgers built a seven-run lead before holding on for an 8-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds, who have lost nine straight.
Arroyo (3-6), attempting a comeback this season with his former team after missing 2 1/2 seasons with arm and shoulder problems, including Tommy John surgery and a procedure on his shoulder, revealed after the game that he’d been receiving cortisone shots in his shoulder since spring training.
“We tried to patch it up and it worked for a while, but I’ve been hit around the yard for a while now,” Arroyo said. “Have I thought ’This time might be my last time on the field?’ Yeah.”
Arroyo, who gave up for nine runs and a career-high 13 hits in his last start at San Diego, planned to meet with manager Bryan Price either late on Sunday or sometime on Monday.
“It’s not just a challenge with his stuff,” Price said. “It’s a physical challenge.”
Logan Forsythe and Justin Turner homered, Kenta Maeda pitched five strong innings and drove in two runs and Kike Hernandez made a spectacular game-saving catch to lift the surging Dodgers to their ninth win in their last 10 games.
“It got a little close for us,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “Our bullpen has been lights out all year. They put some good at-bats against us. Like I’ve said, that’s a very good offensive club. To get out of here with three (wins) is huge.”
Cincinnati nearly rallied all the way back from an 8-1 deficit in the sixth inning. However, Hernandez went back to the left-field wall and made an awkward leaping grab of Joey Votto’s attempt at a go-ahead extra-base hit with runners on first and third in the eighth.
Maeda (5-3), in his first appearance since June 9 and first start since June 4, allowed just three hits and one run in five innings to help the Dodgers complete a three-game sweep.
“The team wanted me to be aggressive and pound the zone and that’s what happened,” Maeda said through an interpreter. “It took some time for me to start again, but I was able to get into a rhythm. I tried to stay aggressive and not change my plan with runners on base.”
Scooter Gennett hit a three-run home run, his first since he had a major league record-tying four on June 6, and Adam Duvall and Eugenio Suarez each added solo shots for the Reds.
Kenley Jansen got the last three outs for his 15th save.
Cincinnati scored more than three runs for the first time in six games, but still extended its longest losing streak of the season. The Reds’ skid, their worst since an 11-game streak in May 2016, started with a three-game sweep by the Dodgers in Los Angeles, setting up their first sweep of a season series with Cincinnati since 2006.
The Dodgers scored all of their runs with two outs, including Forsythe’s two-run drive in the third inning and Turner’s three-run shot in the sixth. Both of those shots reached the upper deck in left field and gave the Dodgers seven homers in the series.
HELLO, GOODBYE
Dodgers RHP Josh Ravin was recalled on Friday, pitched two innings of relief on Saturday and was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday when RHP Brock Stewart was recalled from Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles also claimed OF Peter O’Brien off waivers from the Texas Rangers and designated LHP Jason Wheeler for assignment. O’Brien will be assigned to Triple-A.
STILL HOT
After getting Saturday off, Turner wasted no time extending his hitting streak to 13 games, lining a first-inning single to left field. Turner strung together a career-high 16-game streak in April.
TRACKING IT DOWN
Reds CF Billy Hamilton, a Gold Glove finalist each of the last three seasons, went a long way to the left-center field wall in the third inning to track down leadoff batter Turner’s deep fly, snagging it with a backhand grab while glancing off the glass in front of the Reds bullpen.
STILL A THREAT
Hamilton went into Sunday’s game leading the major leagues in stolen bases despite not swiping one in 13 games, the longest drought of his career and one he snapped with a steal of second in the fifth inning.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (9-2) is 8-1 with a 1.49 earned-run average in 13 career starts against the Mets, who’ve hit a combined .177 against him.
Reds: RHP Scott Feldman (5-5) was roughed up for eight hits and four runs in five innings in his last start on Tuesday at San Diego.
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