Dodgers 6 Brewers 8: Don’t Vote for Pedro

The Dodgers battled back twice to come back from three run deficits, but could not do it a third time in order to get the win.

The Dodgers drop the series opener to the Brewers. They trailed the whole game and managed to tie the score twice, but could not score in the bottom of the ninth inning in order to get the victory.

Scott Kazmir struggled a lot tonight. He went deep into counts and because of that was pulled after completing four innings. He allowed five hits, three runs, walked two and struck out eight batters. Kazmir’s control was all over the place. He was slightly missing pitches, but could very rarely seem to get ahead of a hitter in a count.

The Brewers would score three runs in the top of the third. Kazmir allowed a lead off single followed by a walk. Then Jonathan Lucroy would come up to the plate and single to right in order to score two. Another sacrifice fly in the inning and all of a sudden the Dodgers were down by three.

Corey Seager made a great over the shoulder catch that should be pointed out despite all the runs scored and poor performance from Kazmir.

In the bottom of the third inning they would tie the game thanks to Trayce Thompson. Kazmir worked a one out walk, Seager singled to center and Thompson launched a ball into center field. With one swing of the bat the game was now tied.

Casey Fien took over for Kazmir in the top of the fifth inning and he allowed three runs on three hits. Aaron Hill led off with a solo homer. Ryan Braun then came up and reached on an infield single. Chris Carter then took Fien deep as he hit the ball into right. The Brewers were again up by three runs and a score of 6-3. The Brewers seemed to either strike out or crush the ball over the wall in the outfield.

The Dodgers struck again in the bottom of the sixth. Thompson led off with a ground rule double, Howie Kendrick then came up and singled to center which scored Thompson. Kendrick would reach second on the single thanks to an error made by Keon Broxton. To be honest, Broxton was like an undercover Dodger in the bottom of the sixth because he would make another error and allow the ball to roll under his glove that would again allow the Dodgers to score another. Joc Pederson would single to center and again reach second on Broxton’s second error. At this point the score was now 5-6 Brewers. The inning continued when Pederson reached third on a wild pitch and Yasmani Grandal worked a walk. Then things got real confusing when Justin Turner hit a sacrifice fly that would easily score Pederson and the game would have been tied. However, Grandal made a real bonehead move and tried to advance to second on the sac fly. Grandal was tagged out seconds after Pederson crossed the plate. After a review, the call stood and the inning ended with a 6-6 tie. I still have no idea what was going on in Grandal’s head during that play, but thank goodness he was just a little slower than Pederson.

When the inning ended there was a heated argument between Turner and Grandal in the dugout. Kendrick and Adrian Gonzalez had to step in to break it up. One can only assume it was about Grandal running his way out of the inning. Following the argument Turner left the dugout and Dave Roberts had a discussion with Grandal.

Chris Hatcher had not pitched for the boys in blue in ten days, but pitched two scoreless innings, in the top of the sixth and top of the seventh. He was great and managed to get out of both innings quickly and efficiently. Pedro Baez continued Hatcher’s success when he put together a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

Sadly, Baez could not continue that success into the ninth inning. He allowed his sixth home run in 29 innings so far this year. Kirk Nieuwenhuis came in to pinch hit and worked a lead off walk. Ramon Flores bunted for a fielder’s choice so Nieuwenhuis was out at second, but with one out, the Brewers had a man on. Jonathan Villar would then take Baez deep to put the Brewers ahead by a score of 8-6.

In the bottom of the ninth inning the Dodgers were out for revenge. Turner singled with two outs and then A.J Ellis followed him up with another single. Two out, two on for Chase Utley, who was then hit by a pitch for the second time tonight. Roberts then put in Clayton Kershaw to pinch run for Ellis. All of this meant Seager came up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The rookie could not capitalize on the stressful situation and he struck out to end the game.

This was a tough loss. The Dodgers came up with some clutch hits, but also made some boo-boo’s along the way. Grandal running himself out of that inning, stopped the Dodgers from scoring any more. Kazmir did not pitch well at all. He managed to fool some hitters, but went way to deep in counts which forced Roberts to put the bullpen in extremely early. The Dodger bats went quiet after that and did not have a hit after the sixth inning (until Turner singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth). The only positive, was it was nice to see the Dodgers manage to battle back in the earlier innings to stay in the game, just wished they could have closed it out with a W.

Game two of the series is set for tomorrow and first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.