Dodgers clinch 14th straight playoff berth with win over Reds

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 14th consecutive playoff berth with a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night behind Tarik Skubal's seven shutout innings and home runs by Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández.

The two-time defending World Series champions cut their magic number to three for a fifth straight NL West title and 13th in 14 seasons. The Dodgers became the third team assured of a playoff spot after Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.

Skubal (10-7) allowed three hits, struck out nine and walked one as he gained his second win against Cincinnati in seven days. Skubal allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings in a 3-2 victory on Sept. 8.

He is 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in eight starts since the Dodgers (91-59) acquired him from Detroit Tigers on Aug. 2.

Elly de la Cruz hit a 457-foot homer to centre off Evan Phillips in the ninth, the longest homer by a Cincinnati player this season and the longest this year at Great American Ballpark.

Tucker led off the second by driving an upper inside fastball from Nick Lodolo (3-5) into the right-field stands, his third home run in five games.

Tucker walked with two outs in the fourth and Hernández homered to right-center. Enrique Hernández added an RBI single in the seventh.

Los Angeles sends RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (13-8, 2.62 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday. LHP Rhett Lowder (6-10, 5.81 ERA) goes for Cincinnati.