The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers limped into Friday’s series opener on respective three- and four-game losing streaks, but a rematch of the 2018 National League Championship Series seemingly invigorated the two clubs.
They combined to hit five home runs, with the Brewers hanging on for an 8-5 win. The Dodgers have now followed a five-game winning streak by losing the same amount in a row.
The night began in ominous fashion as Julio Urias needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning. He encountered some bad luck as Yasmani Grandal hit a ball up the middle that ricocheted off Urias’ ankle and carried into right-center field for an RBI single. The hit was one of three for Grandal, as he later clubbed a two-run homer.
Urias managed to settle in but after a pair of scoreless innings, allowed two runs in both the fourth and fifth. They came on respective home runs by Hernan Perez and Grandal. Urias struck out for and got through five innings but allowed six runs (five earned).
He exited with the Dodgers trailing 6-5, which was a deficit they never managed to overcome. L.A. provided Urias a lead behind Cody Bellinger’s go-ahead two-run homer in the third inning. When the Brewers pulled head on Perez’s blast in the top of the fourth, Pederson’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning again put the Dodgers ahead.
Though, that was also the last their offense was heard from. Including Corey Seager’s solo shot in the first inning, the Dodgers hit three home runs. It extended their streak of consecutive home games with a homer to 27 (dating back to August 2018).
Joe Kelly’s disappointing start to the season continued as he managed to strand a two-out single in the sixth inning but gave up an RBI double to Jesús Aguilar in the seventh. It snapped an 0-for-21 skid for the Brewers’ slugger and marked his first extra-base hit of the season.
The insurance run created breathing room for Josh Hader as he pitched through traffic. David Freese led off the bottom of the eighth with a pinch-hit double and Chris Taylor’s flare single put runners at the corners with one out.
Hader entered the night having allowed just one hit to 25 batters faced this season. He went to three-ball counts against Max Muncy and Seager, with one at-bat ending on a strikeout and the other a walk that loaded the bases.
Hader escaped the jam by striking out Justin Turner, and after the Brewers manufactured a run off Kenley Jansen in the top of the ninth, the vaunted left-hander retired Bellinger to start the bottom half of the inning and handed the ball over to Alex Wilson for the save.
