Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds: Final Score & Recap

The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on September 16, 2026, at Great American Ball Park, handing Los Angeles a decisive loss in which the DiamondIQ model's estimate of a Cincinnati win climbed from 40 percent before first pitch all the way to 100 percent by the final out. The Reds never trailed, and the game's critical sequences unfolded in the third inning and again in the sixth, where Cincinnati steadily built a cushion that the Dodgers could never overcome.

The single most impactful moment of the night came in the bottom of the third, when Elly De La Cruz launched a home run off Seth Halvorsen that shifted win probability by 19.3 percent in Cincinnati's favor. That blow was the anchor of De La Cruz's night, which finished as the game's top individual offensive contribution at plus-20.9 percent WPA and plus-1.9 RE24. The Dodgers had briefly generated their own threat in the top of the third, when Will Smith doubled off Andrew Abbott for a 12.0-percent WPA swing, but Los Angeles was unable to capitalize fully. Dane Myers extended the Cincinnati lead with a fifth-inning home run off Bobby Miller, adding another 11.7 percent to the Reds' win probability. In the top of the sixth, Alex Freeland drew a walk off Julian Garcia worth 12.0 percent WPA, keeping a Dodgers rally alive, but Tejay Antone answered by inducing a Mookie Betts lineout that swung probability 8.8 percent back toward Cincinnati and effectively ended the threat.

On the mound, Andrew Abbott led all pitchers with a plus-10.6 percent WPA contribution despite yielding the Smith double, and Antone's key intervention in the sixth registered at plus-8.8 percent, with Brock Burke adding plus-7.2 percent in relief. The final line — Cincinnati 6 runs on 13 hits, Los Angeles 2 runs on 7 hits — reflected a game in which the Reds controlled nearly every meaningful leverage situation while the Dodgers' most promising opportunities stalled before they could alter the outcome.