MILWAUKEE – They didn’t stray very far at first. But it was a nine-game road trip that took them down the 5 Freeway and then all the way to Wisconsin.
The Dodgers return to LA now looking more like themselves, having won seven of the nine games – and nine of their past 11 overall – after beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 Sunday afternoon to complete their third consecutive series victory.
A sweep in Anaheim was followed by taking two out of three in San Diego and again in Milwaukee. The offense, in particular, came to life on the road, outscoring their three opponents 57-17 in the nine games.
Coming into the series, the Dodgers could feel fortunate that they wouldn’t face Jacob Misiorowski, the young flamethrower and Cy Young contender. Instead, they faced three young starters – Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser and Brandon Sproat – they had never faced before, mid-90s mph mysteries to be solved.
That proved problematic in Friday’s loss when Henderson held them scoreless on two hits in five innings, less so on Saturday when Gasser gave up a three-run home run to Teoscar Hernandez.
The Dodgers also drew a season-high 11 walks in Saturday’s win and remained patient against Sproat, letting him walk three of the first seven batters he faced.
They couldn’t put a run on the board, though, until the fourth inning when they loaded the bases on singles by Hernandez and Dalton Rushing and a hit batter. Sproat wild pitched a run home to tie the game.
The Dodgers grabbed a hold of the game an inning later.
Mookie Betts beat out an infield single and Freddie Freeman drew yet another walk (one of his eight in the series). Sproat’s day was done at that point and left-hander Shane Drohan came in to face Kyle Tucker who drove them both in when he lined a triple into the right field corner.
It was Tucker’s second extra-base hit of the game (he also doubled in the first) and further confirmed his comfort level in the middle of the lineup. Since being moved out of the No. 2 spot, Tucker is 26 for 96 (.271) with 12 doubles and more walks (18) than strikeouts (17).
Drohan’s next pitch was a cutter inside to Andy Pages and Pages sent a towering fly ball into the left-field seats for a two-run home run and a four-run Dodger lead.
That was more than enough for Yoshinobu Yamamoto who gave up a run in the second inning and nothing else.
Yamamoto also got his game back in order on this road trip. He had a 5.18 ERA over a four-start stretch before this trip with five home runs allowed in those starts. But he held the Padres to one run over seven innings in San Diego and did the same to the Brewers Sunday, scattering seven hits along the way.
Will Klein and Tanner Scott combined to retire the final six Brewers in order, extending the Dodgers bullpen’s franchise-record scoreless streak to 38 innings. No Dodger reliever has been charged with a run since May 12.