Dodgers 8 Brewers 1: Happy Flight

The Dodgers won the finale in Milwaukee behind fine pitching and an offensive breakout.

The Dodgers’ getaway day started off terribly, as they received news that Clayton Kershaw will be placed on the DL. The all-star break could help as the Dodgers could potentially only lose two starts, but Kershaw being on the DL is a huge downer and puts this team in the danger zone.

There was still a game to be played, and it got off to a shaky start as the Dodgers left runners on the corners in the first. Kenta Maeda followed it up with a 27-pitch first inning, giving the Brewers a 1-0 lead. It could have been a lot worse as they had the bases loaded with one out, but all they could manage was a sac fly.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ offense woke up against Zach Davies. Yasiel Puig led off the second with a walk after being down 2-1 in the count, and Trayce Thompson crushed a pitch to left-center to put the Dodgers up 2-1. Thompson’s 10th homer of the season came at a great time, and while he had been cold (two hits since June 19th), he’s still hitting the ball hard. He’ll definitely need to limit his slumps with the uncertainty of Joc Pederson‘s shoulder and Enrique Hernandez on the DL.

Yasmani Grandal had a terrible at bat in the second, where he swung at two pitches out of the zone to strike out. He got ahead 3-0 in his second at bat and belted a 3-1 pitch to center for a solo homer, his seventh of the season. Grandal has been struggling as well, but it’s always good to see a catcher help out on offense.

The Dodgers’ offense continued to be hot in the fifth, as Chase Utley led off with a single and Corey Seager hit his 17th home run of the season. Hanley Ramirez hit 20 homers 0in 2013, 19 as a SS and one as a DH. Before that, the last time a Dodger shortstop hit 17 home runs in a season was Billy Grabarkewitz, who hit 17 in 1970. Seager has that many in a half season.

Following the homer, Adrian Gonzalez singled and Howie Kendrick walked. Puig, who looked fine after a leg scare in yesterday’s game, singled to score Gonzalez, but Thompson grounded out to end the inning.

Maeda breezed through three innings after a tough first, but he ran into trouble in the fifth again. He got two quick outs, but Jonathan Villar singled. Maeda tried to pick Villar off and threw wide of the bag to give him second. Utley backed the play up, but threw wide of third to give Villar two bases on two errors. Maeda walked Scooter Gennett, but got Ryan Braun to strike out to end the threat.

Justin Turner added a seventh run in the sixth. After a 10-pitch at bat, he singled with runners on the corners to drive in Grandal. Gonzalez doubled to score Seager to make it 8-1.

Meanwhile, Kenta got through six innings with 101 pitches. He allowed three hits, walked two and hit two batters, but did a phenomenal job getting deep enough in the game and keeping the Brewers bats quiet. Casey Fien tossed two scoreless innings and J.P. Howell threw a perfect ninth to close it out.

Next: Dodgers Acquire Bud Norris

The Dodger wrap up the roadtrip on a nice note. They went 3-4 on the roadtrip, but kept pace with the Giants (and may have gained a game if they lose tonight). The Dodgers went 16-12 for the second straight month, so while things look bleak, the Dodgers are still in a very good spot. All of this is despite the team really not playing well for an extended period of time. They’re on an 88-win pace despite the terrible stretches and injuries, so maybe it’s not time to blow it all up and fire everyone?