Bauer, Dodgers Done in by Shaw Homer in Loss to Brewers

Trevor Bauer made one mistake. Well, that’s not exactly true. Actually, he made several mistakes, but there was just one that hurt him. Travis Shaw turned around a Bauer curveball in the fourth inning and ripped it down the line for a long home run that proved to be the difference on Thursday in Milwaukee. Though the Dodgers had a few chances to score late in the game, they still dropped the series opener to the Brewers by a score of 2-1. Another great start done in by a lack of offense. Which was NOT a great start to the ten-game road trip.

Shaw blast puts Crew on the board in 4th

Bauer went all eight innings for the visiting Dodgers. Though he didn’t have his best control, he certainly pitched well enough to win the game if the Dodgers had been able to get a little something going with the bats tonight. He managed to make it through the first three innings with no score, but you could feel that he wasn’t quite satisfied with where he was leaving the ball.

Several times, Dodger outfielders were sent back to the track to catch loud and long outs. It felt like there was a home run waiting to happen. It finally did with two out in the bottom of the fourth after Bauer had walked Avisail Garcia. To the plate stepped third baseman Travis Shaw, who has a history of hitting for power but was still struggling to find his stroke in the 2021 season. On a 2-2 count, Bauer tried to drop a curveball into the strike zone for a punch out, but Shaw had other ideas. He mashed a no-doubter down the line that landed several rows back in the first deck of seats. The Brewers had drawn first blood. 2-0 after four.

Bauer’s solid start goes to waste

Bauer wouldn’t really be challenged much after that. On any other night, we would be talking about winning pitcher Trevor Bauer, who had only one blemish on a great night on the mound. He pitched all the way into the eighth inning, giving up only four hits. Other than the Shaw home run and a Jackie Bradley Jr. double, there were only a an excuse-me hit from catcher Omar Narváez and a solid single from Kolten Wong. And that, really, was it. Bauer’s line for the night: 8 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 K.

Brewers’ starter Eric Lauer was making his first start of the year. And somehow this guy has got the Dodgers’ number. Though his ERA is north of 5.00 against the rest of humanity, Lauer is hovering around 2.00 against Los Angeles. And Thursday night was no different. He scattered four hits over five scoreless innings, and was credited with the win tonight. The Dodgers seemed to have a threat going in the eighth that was erased by some nifty middle infield defense, so they went into the ninth needing two runs to tie against dreaded Brewer bringer of nastiness Josh Hader.

Late rally falls short

Hader had not given up any earned runs all season coming into the game, so two was going to be a tall order to say the least. And darned if they didn’t almost pull it off. First, Chris Taylor led off against the fearsome Hader with a single. Then, he advanced to second on a balk. Hader must not have taken too kindly to the call, because he responded with back-to-back strikeouts of AJ Pollock and Sheldon Neuse. Pinch hitter Austin Barnes, who’s been swinging a hot bat of late, ripped a Hader slider into left field for a run-scoring single.

Suddenly it was a one-run game with Mookie Betts coming to the plate. And, for what seemed to be about the twelfth time in the last few days, Betts had a chance for a clutch game-changing hit. And, for about the twelfth time in the last few days, it didn’t happen. He gave it a warning track ride, but Betts’s flyball to right field landed in Aviasail Garcia’s glove for the third and final out of the game.

Back to the drawing board

It was a very familiar script. The Dodgers got a good start from a star pitcher and let it go to waste because they couldn’t get the bats going. The good news: I guarantee they won’t let the starter down on Friday. The bad news: it’s going to be the Dodgers first “bullpen game” of the year. And we know how solid they’ve been, right?

Game time on Friday night: 5:10 pm, PDT. Brewers will be throwing Freddy Peralta at us. We’ll see if the Dodgers can find their bats among the travel gear before tomorrow.