LOS ANGELES — Edwin Diaz got another chance to protect a lead in the ninth inning on Friday night, and this time he passed the test. … barely.
A night after surrendering a two-run advantage against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers for his third blown save in four appearances, the Dodgers’ closer set the same team down in the ninth after they loaded the bases, securing a 3-1 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Andy Pages and Tommy Edman gave Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto a cushion he could work with by blasting solo home runs, and Yamamoto limited the Brewers to one run over six innings.
Those contributions were enough for the Dodgers to further expunge the one that got away the night before.
Edman’s solo home run in the sixth gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead on Friday, but not a sense of comfort.
The Dodgers (74-49) had also built a two-run lead after six innings on Thursday night thanks to a pinch-hit, three-run homer by Max Muncy in the opener of the four-game series, but Diaz and the bullpen gave the lead away in the ninth inning of the 5-4 loss.
Yamamoto (12-7) had pitched well enough to win his previous two starts this month, but a lack of run support meant the 27-year-old right-hander went 0-1 in those games.
Evan Phillips replaced Yamamoto to start the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Tanner Scott got the Dodgers through the eighth, and Diaz came out of the bullpen for the second straight night in the ninth.
He fell behind 3-and-0 to No. 4 hitter Andrew Vaughn before hitting him up high with a 3-and-2 fastball. He bounced back to strike out Christian Yelich, but then missed wildly on a 3-and-1 slider to William Contreras.
After Diaz almost hit Luis Lara to begin his at-bat, Edman snared Lara’s one-hopper at second base and threw him out. David Hamilton then walked to load the bases, bringing up No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz, who grounded out to shortstop Mookie Betts to end the suspense.
The Dodgers took an early lead on three straight singles with one out in the first inning off left-hander Robert Gasser (3-5).
Andy Pages dropped one into center field, Teoscar Hernandez lined one to left and Betts hit a one-hopper through the left side, scoring Pages from second for a 1-0 lead.
The bottom three batters in the order for the Brewers managed to tie the score off Yamamoto in the fifth.
Lara led off with a line-drive double off the top of the wall in the right-field corner.
David Hamilton, playing second base for the second straight game for injured Brice Turang (knee), reached safely on a bunt up the third-base line and No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz lined a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Lara and tie it 1-1.
Gasser got two quick outs in the bottom half of the fifth, but Pages pulled a 2-and-2 sweeper into the seats to the left of the Dodgers’ bullpen for his third hit of the game and a 2-1 lead.
Edman came up with one out in the sixth and pounced on a poorly placed cutter by Gasser, lining it into the seats in left-center field to extend the lead to 3-1.
Yamamoto needed 26 pitches to get through the scoreless first inning, but he was more efficient after that.
Milwaukee (75-48) collected its first hit in the third inning on a high chopper by Ortiz that bounced over the head of Muncy at third and down the line for a double. Garrett Mitchell struck out when Dodgers catcher Hunter Feduccia successfully challenged on an 0-and-2 pitch, and Yamamoto then struck out Jackson Chourio on three pitches as well.
The Dodgers put their leadoff batter on base for the first time in the fourth when Edman reached on a swinging bunt up the third-base line, but Gasser bounced back to strike out Kyle Tucker and Muncy before getting Kiké Hernandez to ground out to short.
More to come on this story.