MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani fell behind 0-2 whereas getting his first have a look at Brewers rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski. However the Dodgers’ famous person belted the subsequent pitch he noticed a Statcast-projected 431 ft to middle area, placing his group on high first.
It was Ohtani’s thirty first homer of the season, breaking a tie with Cody Bellinger in 2019 for essentially the most earlier than the All-Star break in franchise historical past. It actually appeared like an indication of excellent issues to come back for a Dodgers lineup that has scuffled of late, however Misiorowski did not have a lot hassle placing hitters away after surrendering the leadoff blast.
Misiorowski struck out 12 of the 23 Dodgers he confronted, holding them scoreless throughout the remainder of his six innings. Clayton Kershaw countered with six innings of two-run ball, however Los Angeles was not capable of generate any further run assist and fell, 3-1, at American Household Area on Tuesday evening.
By hanging out 15 instances in all, the Dodgers matched their season excessive (additionally April 8 at Washington).
“It is onerous to sort of discover the silver lining when a man strikes out 12 guys,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “So it simply speaks to how good [Misiorowski] was. And so they ran another good arms on the market out of the ‘pen. Right this moment, we simply actually could not threaten.”
The Dodgers have misplaced a season-high 5 video games in a row. The final time they dropped 5 straight was greater than a yr in the past, from Could 21-26, 2024. They’re going to look to keep away from being swept in back-to-back sequence in Wednesday afternoon’s finale in Milwaukee.
The lineup has confirmed a lot thinner with out Muncy within the coronary heart of the order, particularly with the highest three of Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman working by inconsistency on the plate. Whereas Los Angeles’ excessive quantity of pitching accidents has been within the highlight, the Dodgers’ want for a bat forward of the July 31 Commerce Deadline may be simply as urgent as they climate the subsequent six weeks, give or take, with out Muncy.
“Max’s presence within the lineup,” Roberts mentioned, “and you may look again to any time that he isn’t accessible or energetic. What it does to our offense — the presence, the power to hit the ball, hit the ball onerous, the at-bat high quality, being left-handed, all that stuff. There’s nothing we are able to do about it, however actually there is a void when he isn’t in there.”
The Dodgers have been additionally lacking one other trio of regulars in Will Smith, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández. Smith (time without work) and Edman (hairline fracture in proper little toe) must be again in on Wednesday, whereas Hernández (left foot contusion) is questionable to start out as a result of he is nonetheless “just a little in-between,” Roberts mentioned.
“They don’t seem to be at 100%, not of their finest state proper now,” Brewers supervisor Pat Murphy mentioned of the Dodgers. “Possibly we aren’t both, you already know? … They’re lots good. Our pitching workers has been very, superb and I do know this implies rather a lot to them.”
The Dodgers’ finest alternative to construct an inning in opposition to Misiorowski got here within the sixth, once they had Ohtani and Mookie Betts in scoring place with one out. Ohtani broke for house on contact when Andy Pages grounded a ball towards third baseman Andruw Monasterio, who went for the play on the plate.
Ohtani was out at house, and with runners on the corners, Misiorowski obtained Michael Conforto to floor out to finish the inning quickly afterward.
“We have got to attempt to play for a run,” Roberts mentioned. “And second and third, we’re happening contact.”
The shedding streak has not simply coincided with Muncy’s absence, but additionally with the Dodgers going through a more durable batch of groups. They’d 4 sequence in opposition to golf equipment with sub-.500 information — the Nationals, Rockies, Royals and White Sox — earlier than their shedding streak started in opposition to the Astros and Milwaukee.
“You need to give credit score to the opposing group,” Ohtani mentioned by interpreter Will Ireton. “Confronted fairly good pitching the final couple days. However on the similar time, even when we don’t string hits, there are methods to nonetheless rating runs. So myself included, we obtained to do a greater job of simply scoring runs when there are the alternatives to take action.”
