LOS ANGELES — Before Friday night’s game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised the Milwaukee Brewers, particularly for the strength of their pitching and defense.
“It’s just hard to score against this team,” Roberts said.
He has no reason to think otherwise.
The Dodgers returned from the All-Star break and were held to three hits in a 2-0 loss to those Brewers.
It was their fourth loss to the Brewers in the past 11 days. They have scored a total of four runs in those matchups with the National League wild card leaders while batting .151 as a team.
Friday’s starter Quinn Priester announced his presence with authority, striking out Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in the first inning and going on to strike out 10 in his six innings. The Dodgers have struck out 47 times in their four games against the Brewers.
Priester’s sinking fastball averaged just 94.3 mph. But the Dodgers missed on five of their 12 swings at it, taking 10 more for called strikes. They didn’t have any more luck with Priester’s cutter, missing on five of 11 swings at it.
The Dodgers managed just three hits off Priester. Only two of them made it safely to second base. Freddie Freeman doubled with one out in the fourth inning then was promptly doubled off when Will Smith hit a line drive right at third baseman Caleb Durbin.
Ohtani reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning and stole second (his 13th steal of the season), but Betts struck out on the next pitch.
Hyeseong Kim’s leadoff single in the sixth inning was the Dodgers’ last hit of the game.
The Dodgers’ ineffectual offense against the Brewers wasted an excellent outing from Tyler Glasnow in his second start back from the injured list.
Glasnow retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced. But he made the cardinal sin of walking the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning. Isaac Collins moved up on a ground out and scored easily when Durbin lined a double into the left-field corner.
That was one of just four hits allowed by Glasnow in the loss. He has allowed just two runs (one unearned) on six hits in 11 innings since coming off the IL.
Glasnow’s fastball velocity has been up in each of his starts since returning from a shoulder injury he suspected was caused by changes he made in his mechanics in hopes of avoiding another elbow injury. He averaged 97.3 mph on his 37 four-seam fastballs Friday and got six of his 12 swings-and-misses on that pitch.
A less positive trend continued when Kirby Yates followed him in the seventh inning and gave up a solo home run to Durbin. It was the sixth home run allowed by Yates this season, double his total in twice as many innings last season.
More to come on this story.