Justin Wrobleski provided the Los Angeles Dodgers with some length but continued to be stung by the long ball in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
With their loss, the Dodgers again failed to capitalize on an opportunity to move into a tie with the Brewers for first place in the National League. But because the Atlanta Braves also lost on Saturday, the Dodgers are still in second place even with falling to two games back of the Brewers.
Wrobleski and Jacob Misiorowski finished tied in strikeouts (six) and innings pitched (six). Wrobleski allowed four hits, which was one fewer than Misiorowski, and his 15 whiffs were only two off the Brewers’ starter.
Brewers 4, Dodgers 1: key takeaways
Justin Wrobleski allows more home runs
Wrobleski has now surrendered 11 home runs over his last four starts as a role change to the bullpen looms with Tyler Glasnow nearing his return.
Prior to his current downturn, Wrobleski allowed only eight homers over 17 games (16 starts) this season. Both of the blasts he allowed on Saturday came with two outs.
William Contreras’ base hit kept the second inning alive and Joey Ortiz took advantage with a big swing. Then after the Dodgers cut their deficit in half, Contreras ensured the Brewers didn’t strand a leadoff walk by turning on a cutter low and inside.
Wrobleski giving up home runs to the Brewers was particularly damning considering they rank near the bottom in baseball.
One positive for Wrobleski was his six strikeouts. He also provided the Dodgers with a 72nd game of their starter going at least six innings, which is most in the Majors.
Jacob Misiorowski’s velocity
Any discussion about Misiorowski often starts and ends with his electric fastball. That was on full display and then some during Shohei Ohtani’s at-bat to lead off the first inning. Ohtani popped up to third base on the sixth pitch he saw.
Each of those registered at least 102.9 mph, and one of Misiorowski’s early fastballs to Ohtani was an eye-popping 104.2 mph. That was the fastest pitch Misiorowski threw over his six innings, and his heater otherwise averaged 101.4 mph. Misiorowski’s five hardest pitches of the night were all thrown to Ohtani.
Ohtani did drive in the Dodgers’ only run off Misiorowski and in the game by hitting a chopper that went down the right-field line for a triple after Alex Call’s infield single.
Saturday was the Dodgers’ third time ever facing the fireballer. They had most recently seen him in Game 3 of last year’s NL Championship Series, but manager Dave Roberts didn’t believe there was much for the Dodgers to take from that.
“It’s a fair take that he’s probably the best pitcher in baseball, throwing the baseball the best this year. I think he’s going to get his strikeouts, he’s incredibly talented,” Roberts said. “I think you’ve just got to fight and get the pitch count up. I don’t know if there’s much of a lesson to be learned.
“I really don’t, because how he threw that night is going to be different. It’s going to be a tough one.”
Although the Dodgers have struggled against fastballs for multiple months and Misiorowski is certainly imposing in that category, they still had multiple opportunities to muster more than their one run.
One such instance was consecutive singles by Teoscar Hernández, Call and Hunter Feduccia. Misiorowski worked his way out of the bases-loaded jam by striking out Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, getting both All-Stars to swing over the top of sliders.
Kyle Tucker benched
Kyle Tucker was not in the Dodgers lineup for a second time in the last six days. Whereas he ultimately made a pinch-hit appearance on Monday and played three innings, Tucker did not enter Saturday’s loss.
He was benched in response to mounting frustration over struggling to hit at Dodger Stadium. Tucker is batting .192/.290/.276 at home compared to .275/.371/.469 in road games.
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