LOS ANGELES — While it was the Dodgers that won the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes, the Milwaukee Brewers seem to have won everything else since.
In his third start since joining the Dodgers at the trade deadline, Skubal pitched well, allowing two runs (one earned) over six innings. But it was Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson who won the duel and carried Milwaukee to a 6-2 victory Sunday.
The Brewers won three times during the four-game showdown series. It gave Milwaukee a 4-3 advantage in the season series and the tiebreaker for seeding in the playoffs in case both teams are tied at the end of the regular season.
“I really wanted to win this game because it could matter, but we didn’t,” manager Dave Roberts said. “So now we got to move forward. But I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.”
With an offense sputtering through the height of summer, fundamental play was at a premium but the defense was far from its best.
A Brewers foul ball fell untouched on the warning track in left field, while a botched flip between shortstop Mookie Betts and second baseman Tommy Edman allowed a run to score. Kyle Tucker misplayed a deep fly ball in the ninth inning, before Edman added a second error when he misplayed a backhand with the infield in, allowing two more runs to score.
“We gotta clean that up,” said Max Muncy, who hit a fourth-inning home run. “That is something that we need to put more focus on. Things in baseball can kind of snowball on you, and that might be what’s happening right now. But it just takes a good game here or there to get out of that funk, and that’s kind of what we need.”
Skubal did his best to weave his way through the Brewers’ lineup, allowing seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
“I mean, they had a good approach today,” Skubal said. “They swung and fouled off some really good pitches, took some really good pitches, saw some things really well out of hand that typically kind of get missed. So sometimes you got to give a little credit to the hitters too.”
Skubal appeared to get out of trouble in the second inning, but when Edman dropped Betts’ flip for what would have been the third out, it allowed Brandon Lockridge to score from third base.
Muncy got the Dodgers even at 1-1 in the fourth inning with his 24th home run of the season, but Milwaukee went back on top a half inning later.
The Brewers started a two-out rally in the fifth on a Jackson Chourio double. Bauers singled on a 2-2 changeup to score Chourio for a 2-1 lead.
Bauers was at it again in the seventh inning. Chourio started another two-out rally, this time with a single against right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, and Bauers followed with an RBI double against Alex Vesia. He scored on a single from Andrew Vaughn.
The Brewers reportedly made a deadline offer to acquire Skubal but it was the Dodgers that came out ahead with a trade package of outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith.
Since making his Dodgers debut on Aug. 4, Skubal is 0-2 with a 3.18 ERA. At issue are the four total runs of support he has received while on the mound.
“I just got to be more consistent, continue to get quality contact on the ground, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck,” Skubal said. “You need some guys to hit it at some guys and get some outs that way. But the stuff kind of out of my hand is as good as it’s ever been. And honestly, my execution today was pretty good too.”
After showing some emotion while finishing his fifth inning at 95 pitches, he came out for the sixth and struck out the side. Skubal reached 99.3 mph with his fastball in his final inning of work and finished the day at a season-high 109 pitches.
“There’s always room for improvement … but you can’t beat yourself up too much,” Skubal said. “I’m not going to be perfect out there, but yeah, I need to be more efficient. That’s the standard that I hold myself to, is pitching deeper into ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”
Tucker was back in the Dodgers’ lineup after getting Friday to soothe what Roberts described as frustration. Tucker went 0-for-3 and is batting .232 with an .700 OPS, well under his career marks of .268 and .844, respectively.
When Teoscar Hernandez singled with one out in the eighth inning against right-hander Chad Patrick, it was the Dodgers’ first hit since Muncy’s home run in the fourth. Hunter Feduccia followed with a single to put runners on the corners before Shohei Ohtani grounded into an inning-ending double play against left-hander Aaron Ashby.
“Hitting’s hard, but I do think that fighting and winning pitches, spoiling pitches, that’s care, hunger,” Roberts said. “That’s the reason why you look at four and a half months in a season, the Brewers have outscored us. It’s a team that’s young and hungry. It’s certainly not (a lack of) talent.”
The Brewers had the bases loaded in the ninth inning when David Hamilton hit a sharp ground ball to the right side against a drawn-in infield. The ball hit off Edman’s glove, allowing two runs to score.
Pages matched Muncy when he hit a home run in the ninth, his 21st. Sunday’s game officially gave Muncy 10 years of service time.
“For me, I was never supposed to make it to 10 years, and to be able to beat that and you know accomplish what I’ve accomplished here, it’s a special day,” Muncy said. “But then we go out there and throw a dud, so that really knocks it down a little bit for me.”