The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks both won games before the Dodgers took the field against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday night, yet another reminder that, for a team that has won 10 of the last 11 National League West titles, objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear.
The Dodgers failed to hold serve in an ugly 5-4 loss to the Brewers in American Family Field, and their division lead falling to 2 ½ games over the scorching-hot Padres, who have won 19 of 22 games, and D-Backs, who have won 18 of 21 games.
Veteran right-hander Walker Buehler, returning from a right-hip injury, gave the Dodgers little hope that he will provide much of a rotation boost down the stretch, laboring through a 3 ⅓-inning, 87-pitch start in which he gave up four runs–one earned–and three hits, struck out three and walked four.
The Dodgers also committed three errors, paving the way for the Brewers to score four unearned runs, and their win streak was snapped at five.
Despite Buehler’s shoddy start and the shaky defense, the Dodgers were in good position to win when they tied the score 4-4 in the top of the seventh.
Trailing 4-3, Mookie Betts hit a one-out single to left-center field off left-hander Jared Koenig and took third on Freddie Freeman’s single to right.
Teoscar Hernández struck out, and manager Dave Roberts sent the right-handed-hitting Miguel Rojas to bat for Gavin Lux, the team’s hottest hitter for the past month. Rojas lined an RBI single to right-center for a 4-4 lead.
But that lead disappeared in the bottom of the seventh, an inning that began with Dodgers reliever Brent Honeywell, who retired five straight batters in the fifth and sixth innings, hitting No. 9 batter Joey Ortiz with a pitch.
Ortiz took second on Brice Turang’s sacrifice bunt and scored for a 5-4 lead when Jackson Chourio’s bloop single to right field slipped under the glove of Betts for an error. Ortiz hesitated around third and broke for home when the ball got by Betts, so the runner officially scored on the error.
Brewers reliever Joel Payamps retired four straight batters in the seventh and eighth innings, and closer Devin Williams retired the top of the Dodgers’ order in the ninth for his second save.
Buehler’s early May return from a second Tommy John surgery was derailed by a right-hip injury that sidelined him for almost two months from mid-June to mid-August.
He spent several weeks at a private training facility in Florida in an effort to “get those feels back,” he said, before rejoining the team in late-July ahead of a minor league rehabilitation assignment.
But Buehler didn’t look any better Wednesday night than he did in his first stint with the Dodgers, when he went 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts in which he struck out 31, walked 10 and gave up 10 homers in 37 innings.
He was staked to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first when the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs against Brewers right-hander Frankie Montas and scored on Teoscar Hernández’s walk, Kiké Hernández’s sacrifice fly and Kevin Kiermaier’s hustle RBI double.
Buehler walked three batters to open the bottom of the first but escaped the jam with the help of Kiermaier, the four-time Gold Glove Award winner who caught William Contreras’ fly ball and fired a 99-mph one-hop throw to catcher Austin Barnes, who caught the ball and applied the tag on Turang for a double play.
Buehler struck out Willy Adames with a 91-mph cutter to end the inning, but of his 25 pitches in the frame, only 10 were strikes.
Buehler then coughed up three runs in the second, an inning that Jake Bauers opened with a home run to right field. Garrett Mitchell struck out, and Sal Frelick reached on an error by shortstop Nick Ahmed that could have easily been scored an infield single.
Ortiz grounded out to first, but Turang drove an RBI triple over the head of Kiermaier to make it 3-2, and Chourio’s broken-bat RBI infield single made it 3-3. By the time Tyler Black popped out to shortstop to end the inning, Buehler’s pitch count had reached 60.
Buehler retired the side in order on 14 pitches in the third but walked Mitchell to open the fourth. Mitchell stole second, took third on Frelick’s groundout to first and scored for a 4-3 lead when Ortiz’s grounder with the infield in kicked off the glove of Kiké Hernández at third base for an error.
Left-hander Anthony Banda replaced Buehler and gave up what appeared to be a double down the left-field line, but Ortiz was deked into sliding into second base, took a step back toward first and headed for third without re-touching the bag.
Pitcher Clayton Kershaw spotted the base-running gaffe, according to SportsNet LA sideline reporter David Vassegh, and alerted Roberts, who came to the mound and instructed Banda to throw to second base. Ortiz was ruled out on the appeal, and Chourio grounded out to end the inning.
Short hops
The Dodgers will push right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s next start to Saturday night in St. Louis and will probably call up a pitcher from triple-A Oklahoma City–likely left-hander Justin Wrobleski–for Friday night’s game against the Cardinals. … Reliever Ryan Brasier, out since late-April because of a right-calf strain, has allowed four hits, struck out 10 and walked none in 6 ⅔ innings of his first seven rehab appearances for Oklahoma City and is on track to be activated on Saturday. … Right-hander Landon Knack, who threw four innings of one-run ball in Tuesday night’s win, was optioned to Oklahoma City to clear a roster spot for Buehler.
