Brandon Phillips gets as much of a charge out of making a defensive gem to save a run as he does hitting a home run. Wednesday night, he was able to do both in the same inning to help the Cincinnati Reds pin a frustrating loss on two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.

Phillips and Homer Bailey’s seven effective innings led the Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.

“Regardless of who was pitching, it feels good just to come through for the team and do something positive to get us going in the right direction,” Phillips said. “We haven’t been really scoring that many runs and haven’t been getting many clutch hits. Kershaw’s one of the best pitchers in the game, but tonight we just hit some mistakes.”

Phillips, a four-time Gold Glove second baseman, robbed Andre Ethier of an RBI single when he made a diving stop of his grounder in the hole and threw him out after a leadoff double by Dee Gordon.

“I feel like defense wins championships and offense sells tickets,” Phillips said. “That defensive play I made really saved the game. I’m surprised I got to that ball. I didn’t really see it come off the bat really good.”

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