Dodgers 5, Brewers 3: After latest blown game, does Milwaukee suddenly have bullpen concerns?
Curt HoggLOS ANGELES – Freddy Peralta’s start was enigmatic.
Equally difficult to deduce, too, was how to pitch to Will Smith.
But what's most perplexing right now for the Milwaukee Brewers?
The bullpen.
Box score:Dodgers 5, Brewers 3
For the second consecutive night and third on this weeklong road trip, the previously-impenetrable Bryan Hudson proved fallible Saturday night, allowing a pair of solo home runs in the eighth to hand the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-3 win, their 11th in the last 12 games against the Brewers (52-38) at Dodger Stadium.
But Hudson is far from the lone member in the Brewers’ relief ranks of late to go through a struggle.
Of the Brewers’ last seven losses, six have belonged to relief pitchers. That includes three of the team’s four loss on their current road trip, including a blown save in Friday’s loss to the Dodgers that served as the precursor to Saturday’s struggle for Hudson.
Joel Payamps has three. Elvis Peguero has one, as does Hoby Milner.
But no reliever’s struggles are as concerning as Hudson’s.
Dodgers blast off for second straight night against Hudson
Friday night, it was a misplaced sweeper to Smith that the Dodgers catcher smoked off the foul pole for his third homer of the night that spoiled Hudson's return to Dodger Stadium, where he pitched last year before Los Angeles designated him for assignment in the winter.
Saturday, it was two pitches.
The first, to pinch-hitter Miguel Vargas, was a 1-1 fastball that caught the very inner edge of the plate. But with the pitch at only 89.8 mph, Vargas was able to turn on it and loft it to left field, where it just cleared the top of the fence as Christian Yelich's glove appeared to get bumped by the fence as he timed his jump.
“It sucks. I’ve got to make that play," Yelich said. "I thought I was camped under it. I went to reach up and catch the ball and hit the ledge on the fence, and that was that.”
The next was never in doubt. Shohei Ohtani, on the heels of an 0-for-5 showing with three strikeouts Friday, reached base safely for the fifth time Saturday with a 430-foot blast to right-center that put the Dodgers ahead, 5-3, and left Hudson bent over at the bottom of the mound.
Hudson had a 0.82 ERA as recently as Tuesday afternoon, but has been scored upon in each of his last three appearances. In every outing, too, he has either blown a lead or been unable to hold a tie.
The lefty was pitching on consecutive days for the first time since April 13-14 and didn't quite seem to have the same bite or location to his pitches, particularly when trying to elevate.
"I mean, he hasn’t been back-to-back," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "He might not have had good enough time to be fully ready but a hot day like this. He’s learning himself and we’re learning him. It was a good spot for him. Two lefties coming up there. He’s going through it a little bit. He’s been incredible all year."
Hudson declined to speak to reporters following the game.
This is the first blip all season for Hudson, the type of struggle all relievers go through at some point.
His average fastball velocity was down to 90.4 mph Saturday, the second-lowest of any game he's pitched in this year. The lowest was April 14, the second leg of Hudson's most recent back-to-back outings.
Is that coincidence? Or reason for greater concern?
"The player’s a top priority," Murphy said. "We’ll have to give him a break here for a couple days, for sure. But he’s sturdy. I think he’s fine. He’d tell us if he’s hurting. This was an emotional series for him, for whatever reason. You don’t know the effect coming off Colorado. I’m not concerned. We’re watching everybody’s workloads."
Hudson is also on pace to throw more than 83 innings this season, which, considering he's barely eclipsed 60 in any season since moving to a relief role in 2019, is a lot. His usage and effectiveness moving forward will certainly be worth monitoring.
"In some ways, I’m glad that he’s getting to go through this," Murphy said. "It’s just going to make him better."
Bullpen struggles are deeper, too
For the last couple of weeks, Murphy's options for steady, reliable relievers have basically boiled down to Hudson and closer Trevor Megill – until this latest blip for Hudson, at least.
Peguero, Payamps and Milner were three of the most critical arms for the Brewers last year yet have all been mired in a funk.
Peguero, over his last nine games, has allowed seven runs on six walks and three homers to just seven strikeouts. He has struggled heavily against right-handers, which is a problem given his sinker-slider pairing makes him one of Murphy's preferred matchups in those spots. Righties have just a 14% whiff rate against his sinker and a .438 weighted on-base average.
Payamps, despite a clean inning Friday, has been scored upon in five of his last eight outings. In that stretch, he's given up six walks and nearly as many homers (two) as he has strikeouts (three).
Milner, despite excellent peripheral numbers, has been scuffling for a while; since May 2, he has a 8.35 ERA. A whopping 64% of inherited runners have scored against him in that time.
"They haven't pitched well," Murphy said before the game. "I trust guys go through ups and downs. What I'm looking more is, for instance, Peguero (on Friday) can’t give up free bases. An 11-pitch, 3-2 slider. The walks from Peguero and the inability to locate and getting behind 3-1 every time, that's not OK.
"Payamps has been kind of rough for more than 50% of his outings in that stretch, maybe more. He looked really good last night and that tantalizes you."
The good news is that reinforcements are on the way. Devin Williams will be back at some point late in the month if all goes according to plan. DL Hall is even closer.
With that in mind, Murphy sent a message.
"We’ve got some guys coming back, so not a good time to not throw good, I don’t think."
The Brewers couldn't stop Will Smith
Put four fingers up. Throw four curveballs in the dirt. Try something else.
The Brewers kept pitching to Smith and kept getting burned.
The Dodgers catcher hit his fourth homer run in his sixth plate appearances of the series to put the Dodgers in front, 2-1, in the first inning. Smith, on the heels of a three-homer, two-walk performance Friday night, drilled a fastball from Peralta.
"He’s locked in," Peralta said. "You can tell with the way that he’s swinging, how he’s taking pitches and all that. In the first AB I just went to my strength, my fastball. I executed the pitch at the top but he was able to hit it. Credit to him."
Smith, at the time of his first-inning blast, was out-homering the Brewers on their entire road trip, which dates back to Monday, to this point, 4-3, doing so in only four at-bats.
It took until Smith's seventh plate appearance of the series for the Brewers to retire him, and even then it was a flyout to the warning track in right-center.
Peralta delivered a gem in his last start, allowing two hits and one run over seven innings on Sunday against the Cubs.
But the Dodgers are a different animal and came out squaring him up. They had four balls hit more than 100 mph in the first inning alone, including singles by Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez to take a 3-1 lead.
In their third matchup of the day, Peralta and Smith engaged in the battle of the game, grinding out an 11-pitch at-bat which Peralta ultimately won with a 98.3 mph fastball blown by Smith. Earlier in the at-bat, Peralta threw the fastest pitch of his career, a 99.1 fastball that Smith fouled back. He had previously only reached 99 mph once and never as a starter.
"Early he wasn’t sharp at all," Murphy said. "But certainly he showed great toughness today. That was an emphasis I’d like to make. He showed incredible toughness. He didn’t get great results but the toughness he showed to keep us in the game, that was really special."
Rhys Hoskins homers for a second straight day, then Christian Yelich ties it
Rhys Hoskins had two extra-base hits in his last 22 games entering the Dodgers series.
He has two homers in his first six at-bats in the series. Hoskins got an elevated fastball from Dodgers starter James Paxton in the fourth inning and hit it to the left-field bleachers, giving him consecutive days with a home run after having a meeting with Murphy on Thursday.
The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Dodgers until Yelich strode to the plate in the eighth and sent a 2-2 sweeper from Dodgers closer Evan Phillips, this time working the eighth inning to face the middle of Milwaukee's order, out to straightaway center for a game-tying solo homer. The 10th blast of the year for Yelich was the Brewers' second hit against the Los Angeles bullpen in its sixth inning of work in the series.
Brewers lineup
- Jackson Chourio DH
- William Contreras C
- Christian Yelich LF
- Willy Adames SS
- Sal Frelick RF
- Rhys Hoskins 1B
- Blake Perkins CF
- Andruw Monasterio 3B
- Brice Turang 2B
Dodgers lineup
- Shohei Ohtani DH
- Will Smith C
- Freddie Freeman 1B
- Teoscar Hernandez LF
- Andy Pages RF
- James Outman CF
- Miguel Rojas SS
- Gavin Lux 2B
- Chris Taylor 3B
Brewers schedule
Brewers at Dodgers, 3:10 p.m. Sunday Milwaukee LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 6.75) vs. Los Angeles TBA. Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.
Off day Monday.