Brewers rally in 8th to beat Dodgers 6-4 and earn a series split in matchup of division leaders
Jackson Chourio and Wiliam Contreras homered in the first inning and scored again in an eighth-inning comeback as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.
Devin Williams earned his third save in as many opportunities and ended the game by striking out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. That save came one day after Williams preserved a 5-4 triumph by retiring Ohtani, Betts and Freddie Freeman in order.
By winning both games, the Brewers earned a split of the four-game series between division leaders.
"We know we have a really good team here and we know we can compete with anybody," Chourio said through a translator. "Our job is to go out there and show it on the field."
The Brewers trailed 4-3 when they loaded the bases to start the eighth as Chourio doubled, Garrett Mitchell walked and Contreras beat out an infield single that went off the left leg of reliever Daniel Hudson (6-2).
Willy Adames' single to left brought home Chourio with the tying run. Dodgers third baseman Kiké Hernández then dove to his left to field a ground ball from Tyler Black, but didn't have enough time to throwing to the plate.
Hernández threw to first instead as Mitchell scored the go-ahead run on the fielder's choice. Contreras scored an insurance run from third when Rhys Hoskins grounded out with a batted ball that also hit Hudson's leg.
"He gets a double-play groundball that unfortunately hit him," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It was right at (seond baseman) Gavin (Lus). It was a double-play ball."
After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, the Dodgers had rallied to take a 4-3 lead when Hernández greeted Elvis Peguero with a tiebreaking two-out single in the sixth inning.
Milwaukee built the early lead when Los Angeles' Jack Flaherty gave up homers to two of the first four batters he faced.
After Brice Turang doubled to lead off the first, Chourio hit a 421-foot blast to left center for his 15th homer of the season. The 20-year-old rookie also has 16 steals.
According to MLB.com, the only players that young ever to have seasons with at least 15 homers and 15 steals are Andruw Jones, Adrian Beltre, Bryce Harper, Ken Griffey Jr. and Phil Cavaretta.
One out later, Contreras sent a 417-foot drive into the second deck of the left-field seats for his third homer of this series.
"Everyone knows the Dodgers are a good team," Contreras said through a translator. "We know we are as well."
But after the Contreras homer, Flaherty didn't allow another hit until Turang delivered a two-out single in the fifth. The Brewers didn't score again until their eighth-inning comeback.
"I've got to get deeper into the game just to make it easier on everybody else," said Flaherty, who lasted five innings.
Brewers starter Tobias Myers allowed four runs, two earned, and gave up eight hits and one walk while striking out one in 5 2/3 innings. That ended a string of three straight starts in which the rookie right-hander allowed no more than one run.
Bryan Hudson (5-1) earned the win by pitching two innings of scoreless relief.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (triceps) will meet the Dodgers in St. Louis to pitch a two-inning simulated game on Friday. Yamamoto had thrown 41 pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday. He last pitched for the Dodgers on June 15.
Brewers: RHP Trevor Megill (lower back strain) went to Single-A Wisconsin to begin a rehabilitation assignment.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: Begin a three-game series at St. Louis. The Dodgers haven't named a starting pitcher for Friday's opener. RHP Miles Mikolas (8-9, 5.30 ERA) will pitch for the Cardinals.
Brewers: Open a three-game home series with the Cleveland Guardians. The scheduled starting pitchers Friday are RHP Aaron Civale (3-8, 5.02) for the Brewers and RHP Gavin Williams (2-4, 4.38) for the Guardians.