Dodgers 12, Brewers 8 (10 innings)

W: Ramon Trancoso (3-0)
L: Carlos Villanueva (2-6)

MVP: Mat Gamel (+.359)
LVP: Carlos Villanueva (-.497)

Win Expectancy Graph
SB Nation Coverage

Andre Ethier took Braden Looper deep in the first inning to make all Brewers fans say, "Here we go again." The Brewers took advantage of some first-inning wildness from Chad Billingsley to scratch out two runs of their own. It remained 2-1 Brewers until the 4th inning when James Loney and JJ Hardy traded homers to make it 3-2. Braden Looper was headed for a quality start but was derailed by Manny Ramirez and Russell J.Martin home runs in the sixth inning. The Brewers responded by chasing Billingsley and tying the game at 5 before Casey McGehee grounded into a double play.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth, when Mat Gamel hit a booming home run off lefthander Brent Leach. Mike Cameron and Frank Catalanotto followed with back-to-back singles, but JJ Hardy grounded into a double play to end the threat. Trevor Hoffman entered the game for the save and was greeted with a hard single up the middle on the first pitch. Two bunts later, runners were at first and third for ex-Brewer Mark Loretta. The wily veteran singled home the tying run, awarding Hoffman his second blown save of the year. Another nifty double play ended the inning. The Brewers got the winning run to second with two out in the bottom half but Ryan Braun struck out to send the game to extras.

Down to Carlos Villanueva and Seth McClung in the bullpen, Ken Macha went with Villanueva for the 10th. He retired Ethier on a groundout but walked Manny Ramirez on five pitches. Casey Blake followed with a triple into right-center, putting the Dodgers up 7-6. Juan Pierre was intentionally walked to set up the double play but Russell Martin hit a squibber down the third-base line that Bill Hall tried to play in fair territory. He couldn't make the play and the Dodgers took a two-run lead. Another walk loaded the bases for Matt Kemp. I'm sure you can guess what happened. Seth McClung came in to clean up the mess and the inning finally ended with the Dodgers up 12-6. Villanueva has now allowed 18 runs in just 12 1/3 innings over 14 games since June 7. His ERA has spiked from 3.33 to 6.41 over that span.

Prince Fielder singled off Jonathan Broxton to lead off the bottom of the 10th and Bill Hall (subbed for Gamel in the 9th) drew a ten-pitch walk. Cameron singled to load the bases before Catalanotto hit a sacrifice fly to make it 12-7. Hardy singled in Hall to make it 12-8. Hart flew out to right. Jason Kendall squared up on one but Matt Kemp made a fancy catch on a full sprint with his back to the plate to end the game.