Clayton Kershaw helps out a taxed bullpen in Dodgers’ win
MILWAUKEE — The Dodgers bullpen picked up the rotation Tuesday night, covering the final eight innings of a win over the Milwaukee Brewers after starter Noah Syndergaard departed because of a deep cut on the index finger of his pitching hand.
Clayton Kershaw returned the favor Wednesday, giving an overworked relief corps a much-needed respite with a dominant, seven-inning start to lead the Dodgers to an 8-1 victory and a series win at American Family Field.
The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner gave up one run and five hits, struck out eight and walked none to improve to 6-2 with a 2.36 earned-run average in eight starts.
Wander Suero finishes the job for Dodgers
Ninth inning:
Brewers closer Devin Williams comes in to get some work. Will Smith grounds out to third. Chris Taylor lines out to center. Miguel Vargas strikes out.
Pinch-hitter Brice Turang takes a called strike three from Wander Suero, pitching his second inning. William Contreras flies out to left. Willy Adames pops up to shortstop Miguel Rojas.
Final: Dodgers 8, Brewers 1
Three outs to go for Dodgers
Eighth inning:
Austin Barnes strikes out against Hoby Milner. Mookie Betts pops up to second. Freddie Freeman is robbed of a third hit on the day by right fielder Tyrone Taylor, who makes a nice running catch in the gap.
Wander Suero replaces Clayton Kershaw, who strikes out eight and gives up five hits and one run in seven innings. Kershaw does not walk a batter and lowers his ERA to 2.36.
Luke Voit strikes out against Suero. Taylor flies out to left. Pinch-hitter Jesse Winker strikes out looking.
End of eighth: Dodgers 8, Brewers 1
A strong seven innings from Clayton Kershaw
Seventh inning:
Miguel Vargas grounds out to third. James Outman doubles to right. Miguel Rojas lines out to second baseman Owen Miller, who makes a nice catch behind second to save a run. David Peralta grounds out to Miller.
Clayton Kershaw starts the seventh by getting Christian Yelich to fly out to right fielder Mookie Betts. Mike Brosseau strikes out and then Kershaw makes a nice play on a dribbler hit down the line by Brian Anderson.
End of seventh: Dodgers 8, Brewers 1
Miguel Vargas shows off his power again
Sixth inning:
For the second game in a row, Dodgers rookie Miguel Vargas hits a two-run home run in the sixth inning. The blast, Vargas’ fourth of the season, comes after Chris Taylor is hit by a pitch to begin the inning.
After James Outman singles to right, Brewers starter Wade Miley is replaced by Colin Rea. Miguel Rojas greets Rea with a single to center.
David Peralta, pinch-hitting for Trayce Thompson, singles to right to make it 7-1. Austin Barnes walks to load the bases with no out.
Mookie Betts hits a sacrifice fly to center to increase the lead to 8-1. Freddie Freeman flies out to left.
Will Smith walks to load the bases and Rea is replaced by Joel Payamps. Taylor, the 10th batter of the inning, strikes out.
Owen Miller leads off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left. William Contreras strikes out on a 3-2 pitch. Willy Adames grounds into a double play, shortstop Rojas to second baseman Vargas to first baseman Freeman.
End of sixth: Dodgers 8, Brewers 1
Freddie Freeman delivers again to increase Dodgers’ lead
Fifth inning:
After James Outman pops out to short, Miguel Rojas singles to left. With Trayce Thompson batting, Rojas steals second and goes to third on a throwing error by catcher William Contreras.
Thompson walks to put runners on the corners. Austin Barnes walks to load the bases. Mookie Betts pops out to first.
Freddie Freeman singles to right to drive in two runs and make it 4-1. Will Smith flies out to right.
Clayton Kershaw gets a shutdown inning in the fifth, striking out Brian Anderson looking and, after a double by Luke Voit, inducing a ground out to third by Tyrone Taylor and a strikeout of Joey Wiemer.
End of fifth: Dodgers 4, Brewers 1
Freddie Freeman, Will Smith homer in fourth inning
Fourth inning:
After Mookie Betts grounds out to third, Freddie Freeman gets the Dodgers’ first hit, belting a Wade Miley pitch over the wall in left center for his sixth homer. Will Smith follows with his sixth homer to left center to make it 2-0.
Chris Taylor flies out to right and Miguel Vargas lines out to third.
The Brewers get a run back in the fourth on a home run to left by William Contreras. Clayton Kershaw then gets the next three batters out as Willy Adames pops out to first, Christian Yelich grounds out to short and Mike Brosseau strikes out.
End of fourth: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1
Three innings completed in 31 minutes
Third inning:
It’s nine up, nine down for the Dodgers through three innings.
Miguel Rojas grounds out to pitcher Wade Miley, Trayce Thompson pops out to second base and Austin Barnes grounds out to shortstop Willy Adames.
The Brewers do nothing against Clayton Kershaw in the third. Tyrone Taylor strikes out, Joey Wiemer flies out to right and Owen Miller pops out to second. Kershaw has thrown 35 pitches in three innings.
End of third: Dodgers 0, Brewers 0
Wade Miley, Clayton Kershaw are cruising
Second inning:
It’s another easy inning for Wade Miley, as he strikes out Chris Taylor, gets Miguel Vargas to fly out to center and strikes out James Outman, all on 11 pitches.
Clayton Kershaw, not to be outdown by Miley, also needs only 11 pitches to navigate the second inning. After a Mike Brosseau single, Brian Anderson hits into a double play on the first pitch — shortstop Miguel Rojas to second baseman Vargas to first baseman Freddie Freeman. Luke Voit then strikes out on five pitches.
End of second: Dodgers 0, Brewers 0
Quick first inning for both pitchers
First inning:
Wade Miley sets the Dodgers down in order in quick fashion in the first inning, getiting Mookie Betts to fly out to deep center field, striking out Freddie Freeman looking and inducing a flyout to right field by Will Smith.
Clayton Kershaw needs only 12 pitches to finish his opening frame. He strikes out Owen Miller and gets William Contreras to pop out to Freeman at first. After a single to center by Willy Adames, Christian Yelich fouls out to third baseman Chris Taylor.
End of first: Dodgers 0, Brewers 0
Dodgers will have thin bullpen for series finale against Brewers
MILWAUKEE — A tag-team effort in which seven pitchers combined for eight innings in relief of bloody fingered Noah Syndergaard on Tuesday night took a toll on the Dodgers bullpen for Wednesday’s series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers in American Family Field.
Manager Dave Roberts said Brusdar Graterol, who threw 31 pitches over one inning, Shelby Miller, who threw 1 ⅔ innings, and left-hander Victor Gonzalez, who threw a one-two-three sixth inning in a 6-2 Dodgers victory, will be down on Wednesday.
“I think there’s a lot of guys that we’d ideally like to stay away from,” Roberts said, “which is not going to happen.”
The only reliever who did not pitch Tuesday night was right-hander Wander Suero. The Dodgers considered adding a fresh arm or two on Wednesday, but travel logistics would have made it difficult to get pitchers from triple-A Oklahoma City to Milwaukee in time for the game. And with veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw starting and an off-day on Thursday, the Dodgers believe the bullpen won’t be too stretched.
“There was a lot of talk about [adding an arm or two],” Roberts said. “The timing of a player potentially landing at 4:30 this morning in Milwaukee, what we could get from Wander Suero, layering that out with some length guys, and there’s some roster stuff that we had to kind of think through …
“We just felt at the end of the day that we’re gonna have to have certain guys step up to get through today. So yeah, we couldn’t predict last night, but I do think that we have enough coverage with Clayton going today.”
Syndergaard, who left Tuesday night’s game after one inning because of a blister/laceration on the index finger of his pitching hand, played catch with the finger covered on Wednesday.
Roberts said the Dodgers will probably make a decision by Friday whether to place Syndergaard on the injured list and give the finger time to heal or to see if he could continue to pitch with the condition.
Are the Dodgers staying at a haunted hotel? Mookie Betts won’t be there to find out
MILWAUKEE — A ghost buster, Mookie Betts is not.
For the Dodgers’ series in Milwaukee this week, Betts has opted to rent a local Airbnb with some friends rather than stay with his teammates at the legendary Pfister Hotel, which many claim is haunted.
“I don’t know if they’re real or not, nor do I care,” Betts said of the ghosts after the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the Brewers Tuesday night. “My boys are here, so we just got an Airbnb. That’s really it.”
The Pfister was built in 1893 and has long been a local haunt, so to speak, for MLB teams in town to play the Brewers.
Noah Syndergaard leaves with ‘nasty’ cut as bullpen helps Dodgers top Brewers
MILWAUKEE — What the Dodgers called a “cut” on the index finger of Noah Syndergaard’s pitching hand looked more like a divot, so large was the chunk of flesh missing from the fingertip of the right-hander on Tuesday night.
Unable to stem the bleeding from the wound, Syndergaard was forced out of what he hoped would be a pivotal start against the Milwaukee Brewers after one inning, leaving the bulk of the game to a bullpen that has been better of late but still not as deep as the Dodgers would like.
Seven relievers were up to the task, Phil Bickford, Justin Bruihl, Yency Almonte, Victor González, Shelby Miller, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips combining to limit the Brewers to two runs and four hits in eight innings of a 6-2 Dodgers victory at American Family Field.
Starting lineups for Dodgers-Brewers
Here are the starting lineups for Wednesday’s series finale between the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field:
Dodgers TV schedule for the 2023 regular season
Here’s a look at the Dodgers TV schedule for the 2023 regular season. All times and broadcast/streaming options are subject to change.
