Cody Snavely
Game 90, 7/6/2024: Dodgers 5, Brewers 3
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA—After a thrilling comeback win that saw Dodgers catcher Will Smith clobber three home runs on the night, the Dodgers and Brewers are set to square up on Saturday night on national television, being Fox Sports’ Saturday game of the week.
The Dodgers will turn to James Paxton, who struggled his last time out in San Fransisco, where the veteran lefty gave up nine runs on twelve hits in four innings of work.
The Dodgers’ pitching, which has struggled mightily over the last two weeks, is desperate for a quality start from Paxton, who has shown the ability to do that this season.
The Brewers will be looking to get back on track, sending right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta to the mound. Peralta has dominated the Dodgers in his career. In four starts, he has two wins and a 1.80 ERA.
The Brewers would open up the scoring in this one as James Paxton would walk National League all-star starting catcher William Contreras and give up a scorching base hit to shortstop Willy Adames.
However, the Dodgers would strike back massively as a lead-off walk would set things up for Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who would deposit a ball into the right field bleachers, continuing his home run streak after hitting three bombs in yesterday’s game.
In his last four at-bats, the Dodgers catcher is four-for-four with four home runs.
As Paxton and the Dodgers took the mound to begin the second inning, there was a moment of fear. A deep fly ball to left fielder Teoscar Hernández drove him into the wall, hurting his wrist.
After being checked by the trainers, Teo was able to stay in the game. The Dodgers dodged a considerable blow to their offense, and the team is fighting the injury bug.
Up until the third inning, it was a battle of the catcher as Contreras would extend the inning with a two-out double, bringing up Christian Yelich, who is having the best season of his career since 2019, batting .322 entering today. But despite a sharp ground ball passing Paxton, Miguel Rojas would ensure it stayed in the infield, ending the inning.
Each starter would settle in after a bumpy first inning, throwing multiple scoreless innings until the top of the fourth inning, where former Phillies first basemen Rhys Hoskins would continue to demolish baseballs at Chavez Ravine, hitting a two-out solo home run, cutting the lead down to one.
The Dodgers were looking to get that run back and more after a Miguel Rojas base hit and defensive miscue that allowed Gavin Lux to reach first safely, putting two on with no out and Chris Taylor up to the plate.
Taylor could not do damage, but fear not, as Shohei Ohtani was looking to rewrite his series thus far after going 0-for-five yesterday. On a three-and-two count, the lefty would walk for the second time today.
The bases would be loaded for Will Smith or Babe Ruth. I can’t tell the difference right now during this series. Peralta, already at eighty-six pitches today, had to attack the Dodgers catcher and, after a ten-pitch at-bat, would win the battle.
It was up to Freddie Freeman with two outs and Freddy Peralta on his last limbs, but the righty would strand the bases loaded after a gutsy last two at-bats, and the Dodgers would waste a massive opportunity to put this game out of reach.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Brewers were rallying with two outs after Paxton seemed to lose some command after issuing yet another walk to the Brewers catcher, bringing up Yelich with two runners on. A lefty-on-lefty battle would end with Paxton winning the match up again, getting Yelli to fly out to center to end the inning.
After four hard-fought innings by Freddy Peralta, the Brewers would turn to Bryce Wilson, who has split time in the starting rotation and bullpen. Wilson would pitch a scoreless inning but allowed a hit to James Outman, who is making his first start since being recalled from Triple-A.
The Dodgers would also turn to their bullpen entering the sixth inning, but it was the first time in nearly two weeks that the team got back-to-back starts of their starters going five innings pitched, which can explain how things have gone in the rotation since the end of June.
The Dodgers offense would get another opportunity with a runner in scoring position thanks to a two-out triple from Shohei Ohtani. Still, they could not capitalize as Will Smith would fly out to Yelich, who made a nice sliding catch to end the inning.
After a scoreless inning by Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen, the Dodgers would insert Evan Phillips in the eighth inning to face the heart of the Brewers order.
Phillips closed out yesterday’s game by striking out the side in the top of the ninth inning and would pick up right where he left off by striking out William Contreras but would have his evening ruined after Christian Yelich took him deep to tie the game at three.
However, the tie was short-lived as Miguel Vargas, who was not in the starting lineup today, made a pinch-hit appearance in the eighth inning and hit a solo home run to give the Dodgers a four-to-three lead.
Vargas, who had an uneventful rookie season in Los Angeles last year, has turned the page in year two and is making the most of his opportunity, hitting .333/396/.571 with a .967 OPS.
However, the Dodgers continued to add one in the eighth inning, as Shohei Ohtani joined the home run party, hitting his twenty-eighth home run of the year.
Left-handed pitcher Alex Vesia would shut things down in the ninth inning, securing the series win for the Dodgers as they look for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon. Left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski will make the start for Los Angeles, making his Major League debut.
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