Dodgers can’t solve Jacob Misiorowski, lose to Brewers

LOS ANGELES — It was a Miz-erable day for the Dodgers’ hitters.

The slowest of the six pitches Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski threw to Shohei Ohtani, leading off the first inning for the Dodgers Saturday, was 102.9 mph. It was not a good sign for a Dodgers’ offense that has been “bullied” by fastballs for the past six weeks, seeing more of them than any other team and producing less.

Flashing the best fastball in the game – it averaged 101.4 mph Saturday and reached 103.1 mph or higher eight times – Misiorowski held the Dodgers to one run on five hits in six innings as the Brewers handed them a 4-1 defeat.

The loss assures the Dodgers of no better than a split of this four-game series, meaning they will gain no ground in the race for the best record in the National League. The Brewers (76-48) are currently two games better than the Dodgers (74-50).

“You can’t try to slug this guy. Hopefully you piece some things together,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during FOX’s in-game interview when asked about facing Misiorowski.

He was right. The Dodgers managed to piece together some things for a run in the third inning.

Alex Call hit a dribbler to the right side that left his bat at 37.2 mph and beat it out for a one-out single. Two batters later, Shohei Ohtani bounced a ground ball down the first-base line for an RBI triple.

The Dodgers stressed Misiorowski again in the fifth inning when three consecutive singles by Teoscar Hernandez, Call and Hunter Feduccia loaded the bases for the top of the order with one out.

But Misiorowski struck out Ohtani on three pitches – two sliders wrapped around a 102.4 mph fastball – and Freddie Freeman on five, getting him with another slider.

Misiorowski struck out six in six innings Saturday – a relatively modest total for the right-hander who leads the big leagues with 210 strikeouts this season. His fastball was its usual super-charged self but his slider was even more devastating. He threw it only 15 times in his 98-pitch workday. The Dodgers swung 10 times and put it in play just once (a sixth-inning ground out by Andy Pages).

Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski actually gave up fewer hits (four) than Misiorowski in his six innings. But half of them were home runs – the bane of Wrobleski’s second half. Doubling the damage, both of them were two-run drives.

Wrobleski hit the inside corner with a 1-and-0 slider to Joey Ortiz in the second inning but it was belt-high and Ortiz sent it into the left-field home run seats, just out of Hernandez’s reach. Two innings later, William Contreras (a .168 hitter since the All-Star break) golfed a cutter near his ankles into the left-field pavilion for the Brewers’ second two-run home run of the game.

Wrobleski has now given up 11 home runs in 19⅔ innings over his past four starts after giving up just eight in his first 106⅔ innings this season.

Getting the Brewers starter out of the game didn’t end the Dodgers’ Miz-ery. They didn’t have another hit after loading the bases in the fifth inning.