Dodgers walk-off Brewers in 10 innings, 6-4

WP: Dylan Floro (4-2) ; LP: Matt Albers (3-3) ; Save: none Home runs: Mil - none; LA - Yasmani Grandal 2 (18,19); Brian Dozier (17)

A you can’t win ‘em all Box Score...unfortunately

The Milwaukee Brewers (63-48) scored two early runs without an RBI but couldn’t produce enough big hits as the game went along, and they fell in ten innings 6-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers (60-49) at Dodger Stadium tonight.

The Brewers got to LA starter Rich Hill for a first inning run when Lorenzo Cain tripled into right center and the relay throw from Brian Dozier bounced off of Manny Machado and into the dugout, sending Cain home.

Cain led off the third with a double over Yasiel Puig’s head in right. Hill bounced a pitch to Jesus Aguilar that bounced away from Yasmani Grandal, and when Grandal couldn’t find the ball Cain kept coming around third and scored standing without a play to put the Brewers up 2-0.

Brewers’ starter Chase Anderson was perfect for four innings, but after one pitch in the fifth he wasn’t: the next two pitches were hit out of the park by Yasmani Grandal and Dodger newcomer Brian Dozier to tie the game up at two. After a walk, Chase got the next three, and he also survived a two on, nobody out sixth with no damage.

The Brewer offense continued to sputter, and the Dodgers broke on top in the bottom of the seventh against Corbin Burnes. A leadoff single was followed by a one out walk and an RBI base hit from Puig to put LA on top and runners at first and third. Dan Jennings replaced Burnes, and pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez laid down a perfect safety squeeze that went for a hit when Aguilar’s throw home was late to get Chris Taylor. Jennings got a 3-6-1 double play grounder from Joc Pederson when Hernan Perez nicely handled a low throw from Aguilar and made the return throw to Jennings. 4-2 Dodgers.

The Crew finally found some offense in the eighth to tie things up. As is seemingly often the case, a leadoff walk was the igniter. Scott Alexander walked Aguilar, and one out later walked Ryan Braun. Mike Moustakas doubled off of the right field wall to score Aguilar, and Los Angeles elected to intentionally walk Perez to load the bases. Manny Pina singled to left on a liner that tipped off of shortstop Taylor’s glove to tie things up, but unfortunately Moustakas had to freeze on the liner and could only make third. That was costly when pinch-hitter Travis Shaw bounced into an easy 3-2-3 double play to end the inning with things knotted at four.

From there, the Brewers managed only a two out walk in the ninth to Aguilar. Orlando Arcia pinch ran and stole second, but Schoop struck out for the third time to end the inning. Nobody reached in the tenth.

After Jennings, Jeremy Jeffress came in for his third straight appearance in the series and retired the first two before a solid single and a double from Dozier put runners at second and third. After an intentional walk, Taylor pulled a hard grounder down the third base line that Moustakas make a diving back-handed stop of, and his short-hop throw was nicely scooped by Aguilar to end the inning.

Corey Knebel pitched around a Puig double leading off the ninth before Matt Albers, making his second appearance since returning from the DL, gave up a base hit by Matt Kemp and then Grandal’s second homer of the night to end things with nobody out in the tenth.

Game Notes:

• Cain ended with a single, double, and triple, along with a walk, before flying out to the track in right in the ninth.
• Manny Pina had three singles, and his last was a weird one: he was jammed on a pitch and his bat hit the ball twice, resulting in a soft liner that Taylor stepped to his right on before trying unsuccessfully to reverse course, barely missing the ball as it landed behind him.
• Christian Yelich’s fifteen game hitting streak ended with an 0-5 night.
• The Dodgers ninth spot in the order had their first three at bats end with bunts or bunt attempts: Hill struck out trying to bunt with two strikes in the third, then bunted into an out to end the fifth. Hernandez had his pinch squeeze in the seventh. Max Muncy did not attempt to bunt against Corey Knebel in the ninth, and struck out.
• Albers’ velocity was good, but he had difficulty getting his slider over and locating the fast ball. One hopes those things are coming - that’s two poor performances in a row.
• The Brewers fall to 6-6 in extras.
• With Chicago’s 9-2 win over the Pirates, Milwaukee is now a game back in second place.

The finale of the four game set has the Crew going for the series win with Jhoulys Chacin (10-3, 3.45) facing LA’s ace Clayton Kershaw (4-5, 2.51).