The brewing struggles of Edwin Díaz cost the Dodgers the win

With no power to speak of—finishing the game with nothing but singles in their 10 hits—the Brewers took advantage of Edwin Díaz’s struggles to mount a late comeback and beat the Dodgers 5-4 in one of these teams’ most excruciating losses of the season.

While Roki Sasaki has never been confused with a starter who relentlessly pounds the zone, even by his standards, this performance against the Brewers came with worse command than he was comfortable with. Through his first five frames, Sasaki walked the same number of batters as he had innings. Although his ability to pitch out of trouble to prevent a blowup should be applauded, there was probably a healthy contribution from a Brewers offense that couldn’t generate any power against him.

Both runs that Sasaki allowed came in the third inning, when control of the baseball eluded him to the point of walking three batters in a single frame. Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton came up to the plate with one out and the bases loaded, and each walked in a run, receiving a combined single strike in their respective plate appearances.

With the Dodgers silent early on against lefty Shane Drohan, they counted on the struggles of the Brewers’ stars to stay in this game. Firstly, in that third inning, the damage to Sasaki could’ve been worse, but amidst his struggles, the Dodgers starter rather easily punched out William Contreras with the bases loaded before walking in the two runs.

Eric Karros mentioned in the Dodgers broadcast that through this cold stretch with the bat, Contreras has seen the defensive side of his game also falter, and that came into play for the Dodgers’ first run. With a runner at second and two outs, Ben Rortvedt knocked a single into left field, and even with Shohei Ohtani coming up to hit, Miguel Rojas got the aggressive send sign. Rojas should’ve been out at the plate after Jackson Chourio made a good throw, but Contreras hurried the tag and couldn’t hold on to the ball; this allowed the Dodgers to score their first run and make it a 2-1 matchup in the fifth.

The Brewers’ most accomplished player and in the middle of a lousy campaign, Christian Yelich, much like Contreras, also helped out Sasaki in this game. Far from his best form, Sasaki was sent out there for the sixth to try to squeeze out one more inning that started with Andrew Vaughn reaching safely for the third straight time. Yelich was next, and with the Brewers’ last chance to do damage before the Dodgers went to the bullpen, their star left-handed hitter grounded into an easy double play. Eventually, Sasaki completed the six innings of two-run baseball, a great line given the context of this performance.

Milwaukee also tried to extend their starter to complete six full innings, a decision that would come back to haunt them with the Dodgers turning this game around in the sixth. Refusing to miss time after his injury scare on Wednesday, Freddie Freeman delivered a magnificent at-bat, overcoming a 0-2 count to earn a nine-pitch walk on an overturned 3-2 strike call. Freeman joined Tommy Edman, who also had walked to lead off the inning, on the basepaths, and that was enough for Pat Murphy to turn to Antonio Senzatela in the bullpen.

Pinch-hitting for Miguel Rojas with two outs, Max Muncy did what he has done many times recently, hitting a clutch homer to hand the Dodgers the lead. This one was a three-run shot, simply destroying a high heater from the former Rockies starter-turned-relief weapon for the Brew Crew.

The saying that when it rains, it pours certainly applied to Yelich, as he was without luck on his side late in this one. Tanner Scott was brought in relief to face the former MVP with one on and two out in the eighth. Representing the tying run, Yelich got a hold of one down the left field line that very nearly went out but was ultimately caught by Kiké Hernández right at the wall.

What’s further impressive about that defensive play is that Kiké had already made a good one at third earlier in the game. And as long as he is providing this type of versatility with defensive contributions all over, the team will make do without his offensive production.

That minor scare with Scott turned out to be a preview of what was to come in the ninth. In a tightly contested matchup, a team functioning like a well-oiled machine cannot afford to have one of its integral pieces struggling in the manner that Edwin Díaz has, ultimately leading to a blown save in the ninth. Blowup outings here and there can be explained, but what’s baffling about Díaz right now, as he allowed four straight hits (all singles) to give up the lead, is that the stuff just isn’t performing as you’d expect. Too often he located the pitch well and didn’t get the result you’d assume, like in this Chourio RBI single.

Díaz blew the save and left a mess for Alex Vesia with two on and two out against Jake Bauers. Vesia threw a 1-2 slider that didn’t break enough, and Bauers squeezed it past the infield for an RBI single to give the Brewers the 5-4 lead. In typical Brewers fashion, they came back in this one with nothing but singles.

Game particulars

• Home run— Max Muncy (23)
• WP—DL Hall (2-0): 2 IP, 3 strikeouts
• LP— Edwin Díaz (2-2): 0.2 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 strikeouts
• SV— Trevor Megill (22): 1 IP, 1 strikeout

Up next

Phenomenal this season and coming off 5.2 scoreless innings in a low-scoring win against the Diamondbacks, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will lead the Dodgers against the Brewers on Friday night, aiming to pitch back-to-back scoreless games for the first time this season. Milwaukee will send yet another one of their young starters in Robert Gasser. The first pitch comes your way at 7:10 p.m. (PT).