Dodgers drop fifth straight game vs. Brewers, lose 8-7

Shohei Ohtani, Tommy Edman, and Migeul Rojas all go deep as the Dodgers drop their fifth straight against Milwaukee.

The Dodgers fought hard against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, but couldn’t complete the comeback as they dropped their fifth straight game against Milwaukee by a final score of 8-7.

Emmet Sheehan made his third start of the season after recording a win in relief against the San Francisco Giants, and eased his way through the first inning on just nine pitches. Sheehan allowed a leadoff single to Christian Yelich in the top of the second inning, but Will Smith gunned him down on a stolen base attempt. An Isaac Collins single up the middle would’ve scored Yelich had the attempt worked out, but Sheehan managed to leave Collins at first after striking out Caleb Durbin.

Freddy Peralta, who tossed six shutout innings in his previous outing against the Dodgers, recorded two straight shutout innings to improve his scoreless streak against the Dodgers to eight.

Milwaukee once again attacked Sheehan early in the third inning, this time with Blake Perkins lining a triple that skipped past Teoscar Hernández as he tried to trap it in front of the warning track. Joey Ortiz lofted a first pitch single to left field to give the Brewers the early lead. After a walk to Brice Turang, William Contreras lined a a two-run double to right-center field that plated both men before Andrew Vaughn plated Contreras on a sacrifice fly to make it a four-run inning. A pickoff of Jackson Chourio at first base put a merciful end to Sheehan’s rough inning.

The Dodgers finally cracked the code against Peralta, as Shohei Ohtani drilled a mammoth two-run home run 448 feet to left-center field to give the Dodgers their first two runs of the second half.

Will Smith and Freddie Freeman both reached base to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Teoscar Hernández, as he sliced an RBI double to right-center field to trim the deficit to one. A wild pitch from Peralta trickled all the way to the backstop, allowing Freeman to score from third and tying the game at 4, all with nobody out.

Isaac Collins resumed his at-bat against Sheehan to begin the fourth inning, and made Sheehan pay for the pickoff of Chourio with a home run that fell into the first row of seats in the short porch in right field, putting Milwaukee back on top by 1 and prompting an early exit from Sheehan.

Jack Dreyer took over on the mound for Sheehan, and kept the Brewers silent through his two innings of work. Ben Casparius took over in the sixth inning, and Friday night’s hero, Caleb Durbin, rocketed his second RBI double against the Dodgers in as many games to pad the lead to two.

The Dodgers continued the seesaw battle as Ohtani lined an opposite field single in the bottom half off of Aaron Ashby to bring home Tommy Edman to bring the Dodgers within a run. Ashby got Will Smith to ground out with the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base to end the inning and the threat.

The Dodgers looked to be dead in the water after Milwaukee tacked on two more runs heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Tommy Edman smacked a solo home run off of Jared Koenig, his first home run since June 15, to trim the deficit to two. Miguel Rojas clobbered a solo home run of his own to once again make it a one run game. Shohei Ohtani hammered a ball to dead center that died just short of the wall to get Koenig out of the inning with the lead intact.

The Brewers’ All-Star closer Trevor Megill came on for his second straight save opportunity, nailing down the door in order and sending the Dodgers to their ninth loss over their past 11 games.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (33), Tommy Edman (11), Miguel Rojas (6); Isaac Collins (6), Joey Ortiz (7)
• WP— Freddy Peralta (12-4): 5 IP, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
• LP— Emmet Sheehan (1-1): 3+ IP, 7 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
• SV— Trevor Megill (23): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers wrap up their three game series against the Brewers on Sunday looking to avoid a sweep (1:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). In a duel between southpaws, Clayton Kershaw battles Jose Quintana.