Walker Buehler struggles, division lead narrows as Dodgers lose to Brewers
MILWAUKEE — The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks both won games before the Dodgers took the field against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night, yet another reminder that, for a team that has won 10 of the last 11 National League West titles, objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear.
The Dodgers failed to hold serve in an ugly 5-4 loss to the Brewers in American Family Field, and their division lead fell to 2½ games over the scorching-hot Padres, who have won 19 of 22 games, and Diamondbacks, who have won 18 of 21 games.
Veteran right-hander Walker Buehler returned from a right-hip injury and gave the Dodgers little hope that he will provide much of a rotation boost down the stretch, laboring through a 3⅓-inning, 87-pitch start in which he gave up four runs (one earned) and three hits, struck out three and walked four.
The Dodgers also committed three errors, which led to four unearned runs, and their win streak was snapped at five.
“It wasn’t a clean game, by any means,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Those [defensive plays] are pretty uncharacteristic, and they ended up hurting us.”
Despite Buehler’s shoddy start and the shaky defense, the Dodgers tied the score 4-4 in the seventh. Trailing 4-3, Mookie Betts hit a one-out single to left-center field off left-hander Jared Koenig and took third on Freddie Freeman’s single to right.
Teoscar Hernández struck out, and Roberts sent Miguel Rojas to bat for Gavin Lux, the team’s hottest hitter for the last month. Rojas lined a single to right-center to tie the score.
But Milwaukee retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh, an inning that began with Dodgers reliever Brent Honeywell hitting No. 9 batter Joey Ortiz with a pitch.
Ortiz took second on Brice Turang’s sacrifice bunt and scored for a 5-4 lead when Jackson Chourio’s bloop single to right field nicked off the glove of Betts for an error.
River Ryan, 25, had a 1.33 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 20⅓ innings of four major league starts this season before getting injured Saturday against the Pirates.
“I was coming in, I know that guy is fast,” said Betts, who returned to right field this week after playing shortstop the first 2½ months of the season. “I was trying to make a play and just missed it.”
There were plenty of misfires for Buehler, whose early May return from a second Tommy John surgery was derailed by right-hip inflammation that sidelined him for almost two months.
He spent several weeks at a private training facility in Florida in an effort to “get those feels back,” but didn’t look any better Wednesday night than he did in his start to the season, when he went 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts in which he gave up 10 homers in 37 innings.
“A lot of near misses, a lot of bad pitches in bad spots,” Buehler said. “It’s just frustrating. I’m not getting ahead the way I’m accustomed to, and then at certain times, I’m going from 0-and-2 to 3-and-2. Stuff to clean up. Stuff to figure out.”
Buehler was staked to a 3-0 lead in the first when the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs and scored on Teoscar Hernández’s walk, Kiké Hernández’s sacrifice fly and Kevin Kiermaier’s hustle RBI double.
Buehler walked three batters to open the bottom of the first but escaped with the help of Kiermaier, the four-time Gold Glove Award winner who caught William Contreras’ fly ball and fired a 99-mph, one-hop throw to catcher Austin Barnes, who made the catch and tag on Turang for a double play.
“I caught it with some momentum coming in, had a bunch of adrenaline, and I just wanted to make a good throw,” said Kiermaier, who was acquired from Toronto on July 29. “Bases loaded, no outs, I was glad to help Walker out there.”
Buehler struck out Willy Adames with a 91-mph cutter to end the inning, but of his 25 pitches in the opening frame, 15 were balls.
Buehler then coughed up three runs in the second, an inning that Jake Bauers opened with a home run to right field. Garrett Mitchell struck out, and Sal Frelick reached on an error by shortstop Nick Ahmed that easily could have been scored an infield single.
Ortiz grounded out to first, but Turang drove a triple over the head of Kiermaier to make it 3-2, and Chourio’s broken-bat infield single made it 3-3. By the time Tyler Black popped out to end the inning, Buehler’s pitch count had reached 60.
“There are too many holes in my delivery where little things can go wrong,” Buehler said. “When you’re rolling, you can make adjustments really quick. I’m not making them quick enough. There are some really big misses after misses, which is not good. In this league, you can miss once, but you miss twice in the same [area], you’re in a bad spot.”
Buehler retired the side in order on 14 pitches in the third but walked Mitchell to open the fourth. Mitchell stole second, took third on Frelick’s groundout and scored for a 4-3 lead when Ortiz’s grounder kicked off the glove of Kiké Hernández at third for an error.
Left-hander Anthony Banda replaced Buehler and gave up what appeared to be a Turang double down the left-field line, but Ortiz was deked by Ahmed into sliding into second, took a step back toward first and headed for third without re-touching the bag.
The Dodgers have two teams on their heels for the division title, a position they haven’t been in in quite a while.
Roberts said pitcher Clayton Kershaw spotted the gaffe and alerted the manager, who came to the mound and instructed Banda to throw to second base. Ortiz was ruled out on the appeal, and Chourio grounded out to end the inning.
Of Buehler’s 87 pitches, only 46 were strikes. He used six different pitches against the Brewers but could not throw his curveball consistently for strikes.
“There were some good things, but from the eye test, he was out of sync,” Roberts said. “His throw was inconsistent, the delivery was inconsistent, he didn’t get Strike 1 very often. He was working behind hitters, and then you’re trying to find your way back into counts. It’s hard to live like that. … You can see he’s still searching.”
Buehler said he feels “closer” to regaining his presurgery form, his elbow feels good physically, and he’s been encouraged by some bullpen sessions. But he knows these kinds of results aren’t going to cut it.
“At the end of the day, there’s a standard of performing here, and I’m very aware of where I’m at in that standard,” Buehler said. “Keep plugging away. Wish isn’t the right word, or hope, but hopefully keep doing the right things, and it’ll come together.”
Short hops
The Dodgers will push right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s next start to Saturday night in St. Louis and probably will call up a pitcher from triple-A Oklahoma City — likely left-hander Justin Wrobleski — for Friday night’s game against the Cardinals. … Reliever Ryan Brasier, out since late April because of a right-calf strain, has given up four hits, struck out 10 and walked none in 6⅔ innings of his first seven rehab appearances for Oklahoma City and is on track to be activated Saturday. … Right-hander Landon Knack, who threw four innings of one-run ball in Tuesday night’s win, was optioned to Oklahoma City to clear a roster spot for Buehler.
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