The Milwaukee Brewers were following a familiar script on Saturday night, jumping all over the Dodgers starter for a crooked number in the first inning. The offense stagnated after that, but the Dodgers offense didn’t and scored eleven unanswered runs to win the game 11-3.
Milwaukee started the game with back-to-back doubles from Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang to very quickly grab the lead. Andrew Vaughn reached on an error that scored a run, Gary Sanchez walked, and then Sal Frelick singled but
Sanchez was thrown out heading to third to end the inning. An unforced mistake by Sanchez helped Roki Sasaki escape trouble and after that, he buckled down.
The Brewers offense was only able to muster two hits after the first inning: A double by Jackson Chourio that just missed being a home run in the 2nd inning, and an infield single by Sanchez in the 8th.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense was able to get to Brewers starter Robert Gasser in the 4th inning as Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages had back-to-back doubles of their own. Kyle Tucker drew a walk, and it appeared Pages on second base was signaling the pitch grips that Gasser had to Teoscar Hernandez, who took an 0-2 slider deep to left field and off the foul pole for a three run homer.
“I think he got caught up and gave away some pitches that ended up hurting him. But you can’t give up 0-2 hits either way, you can’t throw 0-2 pitches down the middle.” Pat Murphy said.
That gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. The Brewers offense, despite being down just one run, could not muster a rally together. The Dodgers then continued to pile on with three more runs in the 8th inning and three runs in the 9th.
It wasn’t even a ton of hard contact and damage the Dodgers did. The Brewers pitching staff gave up six walks in the final two innings alone and five of them came around to score. They mixed in a couple of singles, taking advantage of the struggles of DL Hall and Jake Woodford.
The Dodgers sent nine men to the plate in both the 8th and 9th innings. Mookie Betts made the last out each time, and ended the day 0-for-6. His season batting average has dropped to .169. He did miss five weeks with an oblique strain earlier this year, but his struggles are still unusual for him. He was the only Dodger not to reach base in tonight’s game
Robert Gasser finished with a line of 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, and 4 Ks. He was doing pretty well up until the 4th inning, facing just two over the minimum. Then he gave up some hard contact, gave up some walks, and couldn’t get through the fifth.
“I’m not pleased with it. This is a winning ball club and I came in and was a part of two losses. It’s not ideal, just gotta minimize free passes and keep attacking the strike zone.” Gasser said.
The Brewers will still have a chance to win the series against the Dodgers on Sunday in the rubber match. Brandon Sproat will be on the mound for the Crew while the Dodgers will have Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
