Milwaukee’s bullpen falters, Brewers lose 8-5 to Dodgers

Will Smith homered three times as the Brewers’ bullpen gave up a late lead

Box Score

The Brewers hit yet another grand slam on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped their series opener against the Dodgers in an offense-heavy game.

The Dodgers struck first, as Will Smith homered off Aaron Civale just after he struck out Shohei Ohtani, who turned 30 today.

Following a perfect three innings by Tyler Glasnow, Civale once again struck out Ohtani before hanging another sweeper to Smith, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead entering the fourth.

The Brewers finally created some offense against Glasnow in the fourth, as Brice Turang started things off with an infield single before William Contreras walked to put runners at first and second with no outs. Christian Yelich struck out, but Willy Adames came through with an RBI single, bringing Turang home and moving Contreras to third in the process.

After Adames stole second, Garrett Mitchell walked to load the bases with one out for Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins took an 0-1 fastball that got too much of the plate over the left-center field wall for another grand slam — the Brewers’ sixth in 13 games — to give Milwaukee a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.

Civale got into more trouble that inning, allowing a single to Andy Pages and a two-run homer from Miguel Vargas to cut the lead to 5-4. He went on to walk Wisconsin native Gavin Lux but escaped the inning without any more damage as he struck out Chris Taylor and Ohtani for the third time on the night.

Glasnow and Civale worked through the next 1 ¹⁄₂ innings without further damage, and both bullpens took the reins. Civale went five innings in his Brewers debut, allowing four runs on five hits (including three homers) and three walks with eight strikeouts.

Joel Payamps took the sixth for Milwaukee and worked a perfect inning for the second straight night, setting down Miguel Rojas, Vargas, and Lux in order, though there was a short delay as Payamps landed awkwardly on the mound while striking out Vargas.

Blake Treinen took over for Glasnow as the Dodgers looked to keep it close. Following a painful foul ball off his foot, Jackson Chourio beat out an infield single, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, though he was immediately picked off at first base. Treinen finished the inning without allowing any other baserunners, facing the minimum on 10 pitches.

Bryan Hudson got a chance at redemption against his former club in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he got Taylor before jumping to the heavy hitters in the lineup. He set down both Taylor and Ohtani but then got into some trouble, allowing a solo homer to Smith — his third of the game — as he was just able to keep it fair down the left-field line, knotting the game up at 5-5. He then hit Freddie Freeman and allowed a single up the middle to Teoscar Hernández on the next two pitches before walking Pages to load the bases with two outs. Luckily, Rojas hit into a groundout that allowed the Brewers to escape with the tie intact as they headed to the eighth.

After a scoreless inning from the Dodgers’ Hudson — Daniel Hudson, that is — Elvis Peguero came on in the bottom of the eighth to hold the game at 5-5. He allowed a leadoff single to Vargas, who then moved to second on a groundout. Peguero walked Taylor to put runners at first and second with one out as Ohtani came to the plate.

He induced a soft groundout to first, but that allowed L.A. to advance the runners to second and third with two outs as Smith came to the plate looking for his fourth homer of the evening. He wouldn’t get it here, however, as Peguero walked him on five pitches to load the bases for Freeman, but not before Pat Murphy switched to Hoby Milner for a lefty-on-lefty matchup.

After working the count to 2-2 with a few solid foul balls and a borderline pitch that could’ve gone either way, Freeman slapped a single up the middle to bring home two runs and move Smith to third, making it 7-5. Hernández followed it up immediately with a double, bringing home an insurance run as L.A. broke the game open at 8-5. Milner finally got out of the inning as he set Pages down on three pitches.

Evan Phillips came on for the save in the ninth and made quick work of the middle of Milwaukee’s order, striking out Adames, Mitchell, and Hoskins in short order.

The Brewers totaled just four hits on the night, with three of those coming in the fourth inning. No player reached more than once for Milwaukee.

The Crew will look to bounce back on Saturday night with Freddy Peralta on the bump opposite James Paxton for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. nationally on Fox and locally on the Brewers Radio Network.