William Contreras set the tone with an early three-run homer and Logan Henderson tossed five innings of two-hit ball to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday in the opener of the series between division leaders.
Milwaukee, coming off a sweep of the Cubs, has won 12 of its last 14 to climb atop the NL Central. The NL West-leading Dodgers had won five of their previous six on their current road trip. It was the first meeting since the Dodgers swept Milwaukee in the NLCS last season.
Henderson (2-1) allowed two singles in five innings, striking out seven and walking three in an 85-pitch outing. The Dodgers, who managed just three hits, got on the board with an unearned run off Shane Drohan in the seventh on Shohei Ohtani’s sacrifice fly.
The Brewers jumped on Justin Wrobleski (6-2) for four runs on six hits in a 10-batter, 38-pitch first inning.
Contreras put the Brewers up 3-0 before Wrobleski recorded an out. Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang opened with consecutive singles. Contreras then sent the first pitch 410 feet to left for his fourth homer.
Milwaukee loaded the bases with one out on three consecutive singles. Sal Frelick’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0. Joey Ortiz walked to reload the bases, but Wrobleski escaped further damage by fanning Chourio on a 3-2 pitch to end a 10-pitch at-bat.
The Brewers added a run in the second when Contreras singled and scored on Andrew Vaughn’s double to the gap in right-center.
Wrobleski needed 100 pitches to get through five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the fourth on a leadoff single by Ohtani, their first hit, and a pair of walks, but Henderson got Max Muncy on an inning-ending pop out.
Muncy was removed after being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning.
–Field Level Media
