CINCINNATI – Ken Griffey Jr. singled home a run and made a pair of rally-snuffing defensive plays Wednesday night, sending the Cincinnati Reds to a 1-0 victory that left the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked for the third game in a row.

Right-hander Aaron Harang (11-3) returned from a sore back that cost him a start and limited Los Angeles to four hits over eight muggy innings.

The Dodgers’ offensive slump is reaching near-epic proportions. They hadn’t been shut out three games in a row since 1966. That year, they got blanked three in a row from April 23-25, then again in the last three games of their World Series while they were getting swept by Baltimore.

With every errant swing, they looked like their ’66 selves.

Los Angeles has lost a season-high six in a row and been shut out in four of the last five games. The Dodgers have dropped 15 of 20 overall, plummeting from first place to fourth in the NL West for the first time since April 5.

Griffey’s run-scoring single off Chad Billingsley (7-3) in the third inning put the Reds in line for the win. The right fielder also made a pair of impressive catches to steal hits.

Griffey made a diving, backhand catch on James Loney’s soft fly leading off the third, then ran down Jeff Kent’s leadoff liner to the warning track in the seventh. Without those catches, the Dodgers would have had something going.

Loney led off the eighth with a double, but second baseman Brandon Phillips saved the shutout by making a diving catch of Matt Kemp’s sinking liner, then flipping to second to double up Loney. Kemp ran a few steps toward first base, saw the catch and reared the bat back over his shoulder in total frustration.

With Harang back in form, the Dodgers’ best chance of scoring was to get into the NL’s worst bullpen. Not even that worked. David Weathers got the last three outs for his 22nd save in 27 chances.

Weathers also got help from Phillips, who dove up the middle to grab Kent’s hard grounder. He made a hard throw from his knees to get Kent at first for the final out.

For the second day in a row, it was 97 degrees at the first pitch – the hottest temperature for a game in Great American Ball Park’s five seasons. The heat seemed to help Harang.

The right-hander had to leave his July 28 start in Chicago after only one inning because of lower-back pain. He missed his next scheduled start, giving him time to recover.

Although he felt fine during workouts, the Reds kept an extra relief pitcher around in part because they weren’t sure how Harang’s back would react when he got on the mound again. After 11 pitches, they had their answer.

Harang coasted through the first inning with that many throws. His fastball nudged 94 mph on the scoreboard and his slider had founds its nastiness – signs that his back was just fine.

Notes: Kent went 0-for-4, ending his 12-game hitting streak. His streak of reaching base safely in 39 consecutive games also ended. … Reds OF Ryan Freel had surgery to repair cartilage and remove a bone spur from his right knee. Freel will miss the rest of the season. … The Reds claimed OF Jason Ellison off waivers from Seattle to fill Freel’s spot. Ellison is expected to join the Reds on Thursday, when they will get rid of one of their 13 pitchers to open a roster spot.

AP-ES-08-08-07 2143EDT