Steve Webb
MILWAUKEE, WI — Ugh. Anytime you lose, it’s a bitter pill to swallow, but especially so when the difference is two unearned runs. But, that is just what happened to the Dodgers. They got to Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and nearly pulled off another comeback win, but in the end just didn’t have enough to overcome the Brewers’ advantage, dropping the series finale to the Brewers by a score of 5-3.
Andrew McCutchen, one-man wrecking crew
Truth be told, Andrew Heaney had a pretty good outing on Thursday afternoon. If not for Andrew McCutchen. The former MVP went yard twice in the early innings and staked his started Corbin Burnes to a 3-0. In the bottom of the first, Heaney struck out the first two hitters before Cutch dinged him for a solo shot. Then, in the third, it was déjà vu all over again as McCutchen struck again. This time, the Brewers’ outfielder destroyed a 2-0 slider that Heaney left out over the plate. It bounced hard off the back retaining wall and back onto the field of play, but it was way gone. And, with Christian Yelich on board in front of him, McCutchen’s run made it 3-0 Brewers.
The homer that shouldn’t have been
Spotting Corbin Burnes a three-run lead is bad enough. Spotting him a five-spot is practically unforgiveable. But, that’s just what the Dodgers managed to do in this one. And it happened in the most unlikely of ways. In the bottom of the fifth, Heaney faced that man again. Andrew McCutchen came up looking to do more damage with two outs.
At first, it looked like Heaney didn’t want any part of McCutchen, throwing him three straight balls. But then Heaney got a couple of called strikes (one of them generous) and was suddenly back in the count. Then Heaney tossed a slider that was waaay off the plate in McCutchen’s kitchen, but he got a chase for strike three. Inning over, right? Not so fast. Catcher Will Smith couldn’t come up the ball and it bounded down the third base line, allowing McCutcheon to make it to first on the play.
So, in facing a hitter that he shouldn’t have had to face in the inning, Heaney made one last mistake. On a 1-2 count to Hunter Renfroe, Heaney left a four-seamer middle up, and Renfroe didn’t miss it. He drilled the pitch over the centerfield fence, and it was 5-0 Brewers just like that. As the ball cleared the wall, Heaney put his glove to his face, and yelled something that probably rhymed with “yuck!” before being removed from the game. In all, not a bad game, but it ended on a very sour note. His line for the day: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K. His ERA now is 1.77 for the year.
Dodgers make it a game in the sixth
The Dodgers finally were able to solve Corbin Burnes in the top of the sixth inning. Leading 5-0 and with his starter’s pitch count in a pretty good spot, Brewers manager Craig Counsel was probably trying to get another inning or two out of his superstar before turning the game over to the pen. However, the Dodgers came out swinging in the frame. Trea Turner led off with a double that nearly cleared the fence in left. Then, Freddie Freeman singled to move Turner to third.
With the runners cornered and nobody out, Will Smith came through with a single to score Turner and the Dodgers were on the board. Max Muncy and Justin Turner made a couple of quick outs, which brought up Gavin Lux for what would prove to be his penultimate at-bat in front of the Wisconsin friends and family. Luxy made sure that they didn’t get cheated.
Lux, who had already singled off Burnes in the game, dug and watched as the first pitched missed low. Then, Burnes came back with down-and-in cutter and Lux crushed it to center. It looked like the ball might have had a chance at getting out, but center fielder Tyrone Taylor made an excellent attempt at the ball, jumping high to get a glove on it as it sailed over the fence.
The impact of Taylor’s arm with the fence whipsawed the ball out of his glove and it ended up being a two-run triple instead. Lo and behold, the Dodgers were now just two runs down in a game that ten minutes earlier had seemed a lost cause. The triple made Lux 3-for-11 with 4 RBI in his return to Wisconsin. And probably more importantly to him, he’d gone toe-to-toe with one of the game’s elite pitchers and won the battle. Good stuff today from Gavin.
Rally stalls as Brewers pen does its job
Unfortunately, that Lux triple was the last piece of good news on the afternoon for the Dodgers’ offense. Brad Boxberger replaced Burnes for the Brewers and struck out Chris Taylor to strand Lux at third. Then, Taylor Rogers pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning. Matt Bush did the same in the 8th. And Devin Williams struck out the side with his air-bender changeup in the 9th to get the save. Final score 5-3 Brewers.
Home for the Marlins on Friday
In dropping the final game of the road trip, the Dodgers head for home having to settle for a split in Milwaukee and a 4-3 trip overall. The bats cooled considerably on the tail end of the road trip, but Milwaukee pitching does that to a lot of teams. The Boys in Blue come home for a weekend series against the Marlins before they see these same Brewers back at the Ravine on Monday night. It’ll be Tyler Anderson, (probably) Dustin May, and Ryan Pepiot this weekend for the Dodgers. Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, and Cy Young candidate Sandy Alcantara counter for for the Fish. Game time Friday night, 7:10 PDT. Let’s do this.
Cans of Corn…
- Some hard luck for Heaney today. He continues to prove that he can get the strikeout against almost anybody. This year, he’s got 52 K in just 35 IP. That could come in handy in the postseason.
- Not a great series with Runners in Scoring Position. I count 5-for-26 on that stat. The Brewers’ pitchers are good, but the Dodgers need to work on that.
- Coming home, Freddie and Trea are tied with 146 hits apiece.
- David Vassegh’s little slide mishap went viral today. He’s going to be hosting a game show before the week is over.
- Edwin Rios got activated yesterday and assigned to OKC. We’ll see if he gets back to the big club to spell Turner for a game or two before the end of the year.
- Victor Gonzalez (remember him?) is rehabbing now, pitching in Arizona with the ACL Dodgers.
