gavin lux

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he would be scoreboard watching on Sunday afternoon.

But he insisted he didn’t care how things played out.

His team, of course, had already been locked in as the National League’s No. 3 seed, set to host a best-of-three wild card series at Dodger Stadium starting Tuesday.

What wasn’t clear until the end of play on Sunday, however, was whether the Dodgers would be facing the Cincinnati Reds or New York Mets to open the postseason.

“I honestly don’t really care, I really don’t,” Roberts said. “I think the way we’re playing right now, it doesn’t matter who we play.”

In a photo finish for the NL’s final wild-card berth, it was the Reds who earned the final ticket to the postseason, clinching in spite of their Sunday loss to the Milwaukee Brewers thanks to the Mets’ defeat in Miami at the hand of the Marlins.

Thus, it will be the Reds coming to Chavez Ravine this week, trying to halt the Dodgers’ defense of last year’s championship.

“It’s a gritty group. It’s a hungry group. It’s certainly a younger group,” Roberts said after the matchup was set. “These guys are going to be coming in to win a series. They’re feeling really good about themselves. So we’ve got to focus on ourselves and take it to them.”

Here are nine things to know about the Reds ahead of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. (ESPN):

Gavin Lux hit an early two-run homer and the Cincinnati Reds used three leadoff triples to beat the Angels 4-1 on Monday night.

TJ Friedl had a leadoff single in the first inning off Victor Mederos, making his second career start, and Lux followed with his fifth homer for a 2-0 lead.

Elly De La Cruz led off the fifth with his fourth triple this season before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Austin Hays to make it 3-1. Hays tripled in the third but was stranded.

Ke’Bryan Hayes hit the Reds’ third leadoff triple when center fielder Luis Rengifo let the ball get over his head in the eighth. Matt McLain’s sacrifice fly pushed it to 4-1. The three triples were the most for the Reds since they hit five in a 17-9 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 13, 2019.

Brady Singer (11-9) went six innings for Cincinnati and yielded only an RBI double by Taylor Ward in the first. Singer is 3-1 in four August starts, giving up five runs over 21⅔ innings.

Scott Barlow replaced Luis Mey with two on and two outs in the eighth and struck out Jo Adell swinging to keep it 4-1. Barlow fanned three more in the ninth for his first save this season.

Mederos (0-1) gave up three runs on nine hits and three walks in five innings.

Key moment: Singer retired nine straight batters until Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout hit back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth. Singer retired Ward on a shallow fly to right and struck out Yoán Moncada looking to keep it 3-1.

Key stat: The Reds used their ninth straight victory over the Angels to pull within one game of the Mets for the final National League wild card.

Up next: Reds RHP Hunter Greene (5-3, 2.47 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite Angels RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 4.88).