Dodgers beat Brewers to extend winning streak to 10 games
LOS ANGELES — The dog days of summer imply a wearying stretch when tedium sets in and monotony lurks.
Well, the Dodgers are getting the monotony part right.
They won again Wednesday night, holding the Milwaukee Brewers to three hits in a 7-1 victory. It is their 10th consecutive win and 14th in 15 games this month.
“August is the worst month of the season for sure. It’s the dog days,” said Clayton Kershaw, who pitched the first five innings for the win. “So for us to be playing as well as we are right now is fun. I don’t think any of us think too much of it. We just try to come out and win the next game. And just keep doing that over and over again.”
The Dodgers do the dog days well, lapping up wins like a happy pup at his water bowl.
The 10-game winning streak is their longest since a 12-game streak last July 31-Aug. 13.
Since 2017, no team in baseball has a better record in the combined months of July and August. Since Dave Roberts became manager in 2016, the Dodgers have a .678 winning percentage (141-67) in August. In their nine division title-winning seasons over the past 10 years, they went 159-91 (.636) in August, often putting a stranglehold on the division before Labor Day.
They’re doing it again.
“I certainly don’t believe our players look at August as the dog days,” Roberts said, not consulting with Kershaw on the topic. “I think it’s just another calendar month. I don’t think that we start to get tired mentally, physically and hold on. We’re trying to play through October, and so I think when you have a culture, a team of that mind, we’ve got a long way to go. So there’s no time to feel fatigued in any capacity.”
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were the lead dogs once again Wednesday, combining to go 6 for 9 with three hits apiece.
Betts was on base in each of his first four times up – a walk and three singles – and scored a run each time. It was his fourth consecutive multi-hit game.
Freeman flew out in his first at-bat, extending a mini-slump to 0 for 14 (including 0 for 9 since he was hit in the right knee by a pitch in Saturday’s game). He had two doubles and a single in his next three at-bats and still hasn’t gone hitless in more than three consecutive games since June 2021.
“You really need a couple guys atop the lineup to get teams rolling,” said Betts, who is 14 for 37 (.378) during the winning streak. “If it’s not me, it’s Freddie. If it’s not Freddie, it’s me. Sometimes it’s both of us. I think we both take ownership of getting us going.”
Miguel Rojas had a solo home run (his third in his past 45 plate appearances after going 549 without hitting a home run). So did Chris Taylor. But J.D. Martinez had the oddest linescore of the night. He reached base on catcher’s interference in each of his first two times up, driving in a run with the second one.
All of that made a winner of Kershaw in his second start back from the injured list.
Kershaw allowed just three hits – one a solo home run by Mark Canha. But he also walked two and had runners on base in three of his five innings before Roberts pulled him. Kershaw’s 71 pitches were just four pitches more than he threw in his return from a sore shoulder last week.
“Well, I thought the last one was better than this one, so I don’t know (if there was progress),” said Kershaw, calling his night evidence that it was “better to be lucky than good” and pointing to the defense behind him.
“There were some good throws in there, but overall it wasn’t pretty. Really, there’s not a lot to build on. Just pitch better next time and hopefully go a little deeper and maybe get some ground balls and strikeouts and not so many lineouts.”
Roberts said he pulled Kershaw after another five-inning start because he felt it was “prudent” to build him up slowly after he missed six weeks with an unspecified shoulder injury.
“I felt certain things were better than the first one. And there were other things that I thought he wasn’t as sharp,” Roberts said.
The bullpen took it from there. Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier and Gus Varland combined for four hitless innings. Varland, who opened the season with the Brewers before being returned to the Dodgers’ organization, struck out three in two innings against his former team to close things out.
“I just feel like they’re kind of different wins,” Betts said of the 14-1 run in August. “Sometimes it’s offense, sometimes it’s pitching. Sometimes it’s the top of the lineup, sometimes it’s the bottom of the lineup. We can win in many different ways and I think that’s the main thing. What stands out is the variety of ways we can win and variety of ways we can get things done.
“That’s why we’ve been playing so good.”
Go ahead, Miguel Rojas! pic.twitter.com/JokZkvIwbN
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 17, 2023
Freddie Freeman with the quickness. pic.twitter.com/2oyut7OkkA
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 17, 2023
CT3 solo for some insurance! pic.twitter.com/SXCjwPOIEv
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 17, 2023