Steve Webb
MILWAUKEE, WI — Just what the doctor ordered. After the Dodgers wore out the hinges on the bullpen gate on Tuesday night, they needed some quality innings from Clayton Kershaw in order to right the ship. They got all that and more. Clayton was brilliant over seven, and the Dodger bats were smacking the ball all over the yard in an 8-1 win over the Brewers.
The day began very quietly for both squads on Wednesday afternoon at American Family Field. Both Kersh and Brew Crew starter Wade Miley cruised through the first three innings. Miley went nine up and nine down, and Kershaw gave up only a pair of singles, one of which was erased by a double play.
The Dodgers’ change of fortunes began in the 4th inning. After Mookie Betts was retired to lead off the inning, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith responded with back-to-back jacks to stake the Dodgers to a 2-0 lead.
William Contreras cut the lead in half with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the same frame, but Freddie Freeman got that run back and added another with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 5th.
Meanwhile, Kershaw was mowing through the Brewers’ batting order. Barely needing a dozen pitches per inning, Kershaw was getting beaucoup swings and misses (aided by the afternoon sun, no doubt). He probably had plenty left in the tank when he came out of the game after seven innings, but Dave Roberts figured he’d done enough for the cause. By that time, the Dodger lead had grown to 8-1, thanks mostly to Miguel Vargas‘s second straight game with a home run.
This time, Miggy went yard off a Miley cutter in the top of the 6th for a two-run blast to left. Add one more tack-on run in the same inning via an RBI single from David Peralta, you get to the comfortable advantage that the Dodgers coast home on the rest of the way.
“There’s other guys that are just as talented around the league,” said manager Dave Roberts of Kershaw. “But as far as a guy that can be as efficient too, that’s what we needed. He wasn’t stressed at all. … We couldn’t have had a better guy take the mound.”
Freddie Freeman agreed with the Dodger skippers assessment of the lefty legend. “I think there’s not many more words you can really say about a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” he said. “When you need someone like that to step up, and he does it every single time, it’s just a treat to watch. Being a fan of baseball, to get to watch that every five days, it’s special. When you need him most, like after yesterday’s bullpen day, he stepped up again.”
With that, it’s a 4-2 road trip against some quality teams, which feels very good as they head back to town for another grudge match with the Padres. Good stuff. Let’s keep it rolling.
Cans of Corn…
- Clayton’s line for the day: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
- Nice to see Kersh attacking the zone after that hiccup in San Diego.
- Wander Suero finished up in this one. He looked much better than he had in his first outing last week.
- No bullpen arms that were used in the 8.0 inning bullpen-apalooza on Tuesday were needed in this one (Thanks, Kersh!), so all the pen will have two solid days of rest going into the upcoming home series against the Padres.
- After an off-day on Thursday, it’s the Padres and the Twins coming into town for three-game sets at the Ravine.
- Pitching match-up for the weekend. Friday: Dustin May vs. Blake Snell. Saturday: Julio Urias vs. Joe Musgrove. Sunday: Tony Gonsolin vs. Michael Wacha.
- Saturday’s game is a FOX Sports game, with the usual early start time (4:15 first pitch), but all the other games in the series will start at the usual times.
