Brewers can’t overcome big sixth inning, lose 6-2 to Dodgers

When you are facing a good team, you can’t give them an inch. If you allow them a second chance, there is a very good chance they will make you pay. The Brewers have done a good job avoiding those costly mistakes this season, mainly because they’ve been one of the best defensive teams in baseball.

On Tuesday, they found out what happens when you give a quality team such as the Dodgers a second chance.

The Brewers found themselves with a lead in the first inning, as Christian Yelich led off the game with a single and William Contreras walked to give them an early threat. Yelich advanced to third on a deep flyout from Carlos Santana, and then made it home on a Sal Frelich groundout.

With a 1-0 lead, the Brewers' offense went ice cold. Rookie starter Bobby Miller followed up those back-to-back base runners to start the game by retiring the next 18 batters he faced. It was a lot of soft contact for the Brewers, as half of those outs were via ground balls. He finished the night with just four strikeouts and only the one earned run across six innings of work.

Adrian Houser for most of the night was just as sharp. He didn’t allow a baserunner through the first three innings. Like Miller, Houser was forcing plenty of ground ball outs. In the fourth is when the Brewers started to show some struggles in the field. Brice Turang in particular had trouble on back-to-back grounders to begin the inning. With the Dodgers showing their first threat of the game, Houser got out of the inning with a strikeout, keeping the score 1-0.

The game unraveled in the sixth. With the score now 1-1, Andruw Monasterio threw too high to Santana at first, allowing Will Smith to reach. The error would have given the Brewers two outs, and perhaps changed the situation for the batters to come. Instead, with one out, Max Muncy singled to move Smith into scoring position. A double from J.D. Martinez ended Houser’s night and gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game.

With Hoby Milner now in to pitch, the big inning continued for the Dodgers. It became 4-1 when Enrique Hernandez singled through the gap, scoring Martinez and Muncy. A few batters later, Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts combined for a pair of singles, making it a five-run sixth inning and a 6-1 lead. In the top of the seventh, the Brewers cut the deficit to 6-2 when Santana hit a 442-foot bomb into the bleachers in left field.

The four-run deficit would be too much for the Brewers to overcome, as they were only able to get two hits on the night. The two hits is a season-low for the offense, and their four-game winning streak ended with the 6-2 loss. They still hold a 3.5-game lead over the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central after both team’s lost Tuesday night.