Los Angeles Dodgers Game Recaps: Dodgers Crush Brewers To Earn Series Split, Yasmani Grandal Drives in Eight Runs in Milwaukee Mashfest

If the Dodgers continue to score this many runs per game, then I don’t think they have to worry about starting pitching anymore. Sure the Dodger’s rotation is a bit in flux, but when you’re putting up this kind of offense, you’re going to win a lot of games.

The Dodgers gave the ball to Carlos Frias, hoping to earn a series split before hitting the road for Colorado. Frias gave the Dodgers a decent enough start, considering the offense scored 14 runs on 13 hits. The club slugged three more home runs, two of them from game hero Yasmani Grandal.

Dodgers 14 13 0

Brewers  4 8 1

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Back to Frias for a minute. The right hander pitched five frames, allowing three earned runs on six hits with six whiffs. He earns his third win of the season. His opponent Mike Fiers had strikeout stuff early on. He throws hard, and had whiffed eight Dodgers in five frames. However he had control problems, walking five batters, and giving up five earned runs on five hits.

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The Dodger bats exploded, and I think some of these balls they hit still haven’t landed. Let’s see, one run in the second, two in the third, four in the sixth, three in the eighth, and four more runs in the ninth. The Dodgers had five extra base hits. Grandal went 4 for 4 with two three-run home runs, a two-run single, and two walks. Grandal drove in eight runs today, nearly breaking the Dodger record of nine. Howie Kendrick had two hits and a walk. Andre Ethier had an RBI triple (his 29 of his career), and two walks. Adrian Gonzalez had a two-run single and Enrique Hernandez had a double and a single. Chris Heisey was called up again as Joe Wieland was optioned back to Oklahoma City. Heisey had two walks. Joc Pederson had a rough day, whiffing three times, but drawing two walks, (One intentionally), and finally recorded his first single since April 25.

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Pedro Baez, Adam Liberatore, and Sergio Santos turned in more excellent relief work, and the Dodgers got the split. Here’s how the festivities went down at Miller Park in the series finale.

The Brewers would take the early lead in the bottom of the first. The Dodger pitching staff has struggled in the opening frames, and I have no idea why. Actually the Dodgers are last in MLB with a 7.67 ERA and a .328 opposing batting average against in the first innings. The solution is of course to score eight runs per game.

With two outs, Frias allowed a walk and a stolen base to Ryan Braun, and then an RBI single to Adam Lind. 1-0 Milwaukee after one inning. The Dodgers tied the score in the second inning when Alex Guerrero led off with his sixth home run of the year. Frias was able to pitch two consecutive 123 frames in the second and third. The Dodgers took the lead in the top of the third. With one out, Pederson and Grandal both walk, and Kendrick’s single loads the bases. Gonzo’s bloop single falls in for a two-run hit, and the Dodgers are up 3-1.

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In the top of the fourth, Fiers has an immaculate inning in which he strikes out the side (Hernandez, Frias, Pederson) on nine pitches. Then the Brewers tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. Lind leads off with a solo home run to right. Aramis Ramirez doubled, and Gerardo Parra’s RBI single brings Aramis home. That tied the score. Davis singles, but Frias gets out of it by whiffing Centeno and getting Fiers on a force. However four consecutive hits tie the score at 3-3.

Both clubs go down 123 in the fifth inning, and then the Dodgers explode in the sixth. Guerrero walks and scores on Ethier’s RBI triple into the right field corner. 4-3 Dodgers! Uribe singles up the gut to plate Dre, and the Dodgers are up 5-3. Uribe goes to third on Hernandez’s line drive double to right. Milwaukee hooks Fiers and brings in Jeremy Jeffress. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner grounds out, but a walk to Pederson loads the bases. The hero of the game Grandal strokes a ground ball single into right and Uribe and Hernandez will score. The two-run single puts the Dodgers up 7-3! 

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Call to the Pen

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Baez retires the Brewers in the sixth, and Liberatore does the same in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eighth, the Dodgers score three more runs. Hernandez singles, Heisey walks, and after Joc whiffs, Grandal blasts his first three-run shot. That puts the Dodgers up 10-3. Grandal hits his second three-run home run in the top of the ninth, with Ethier and Heisey aboard after walks. The Dodgers are up 14-4 after eight frames.

Sergio Santos retired the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth. The final came on a whiff of Hector Gomez. The Dodgers win it 14-4.

Today was a good day. The offense mashed again, Frias was decent, and the bullpen was shutdown as usual. We even got to laugh at old friend Jonathan Broxton, when he came into pitch in the eighth inning and served up Grandal’s second homer. Oh and Puig is starting a rehab assignment tonight at Rancho. Things are looking good.

The Dodgers are now 18-10 and improve to 5-8 on the road. The boys in blue will head for Denver, with inclement weather looming on the horizon.

The entire series in Denver may get rained out, so this may be the last game we see for three days. If it’s not, then Bret Anderson will counter right hander Eddie Butler in the series opener at 5:40 PM.

Keep on mashing Dodgers! Go Blue!