Luis Urías to the rescue.
Inserted early in the game after an injury to Mike Brosseau, he homered in his first at-bat to provide an early lead and then drove in an important insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers opened the second part of their road trip with a 4-0 blanking of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.
Keston Hiura homered in the ninth as well to remain red hot at the plate, while Eric Lauer and the bullpen combined to pitch the Brewers’ seventh shutout of the season and first since July 3 at Pittsburgh.
The shutout was just the second in the last 48 games for the major-league-leading Dodgers, and their first at home in nearly a year (Aug. 29, 2021).
“Just really solid on the run-prevention side of it today,” said manager Craig Counsell on the postgame broadcast. “They make you work for it. They make you work for every out.”
Lauer entered the game as a certified “Dodger killer,” having gone 6-1 with a 2.56 earned run average in 10 career starts against them and 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA in four career starts at Dodger Stadium.
He tied his season high with a seven-inning effort against the Dodgers last Wednesday at American Family Field but took the loss
BOX SCORE: Brewers 4, Dodgers 0
Lauer navigated the initial innings with relative ease, with Christian Yelich helping his cause in the second.
Lauer allowed a single to Justin Turner, walked Max Muncy and allowed a two-out single to left by Gavin Lux. But Yelich came up firing and threw a perfect strike home to get the sliding Turner and keep Los Angeles off the board.
The assist was Yelich’s second of the season.
“He put a throw right on the money,” Counsell said. “Threw the ball a good distance. Strong throw, accurate throw. It has to make third-base coaches take note.”
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An inning later, Urías entered the game at third base with Brosseau having been lifted with discomfort in his right ribcage following a strikeout. Then in his first at-bat in the fourth, he snapped an 0-for-21 skid dating to Aug. 14 by lifting a two-out, solo homer to left-center off Julio Urías.
Counsell said Brosseau had been dealing with oblique tightness coming into the game.
The Dodgers threatened in the bottom of the frame with Turner and Muncy singles and Chris Taylor walking – all with two outs. But Lauer escaped again, this time by getting Lux to fly out to Yelich.
Aside from the homer and an infield single by Yelich – not hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time since June 7 – the left-handed Julio Urías dominated before being pulled in favor of Alex Vesia after six innings.
Lauer (9-5), meanwhile, ended his night with a fist pump and a strikeout of Freddie Freeman, giving him five innings on 98 pitches. The scoreless outing was Lauer’s third of the season and first since May 20.
Peter Strzelecki continued his strong work out of the bullpen with two strikeouts in a scoreless sixth and Hoby Milner followed with 1⅓ scoreless innings behind him.
“Peter’s done a heck of a job,” Counsell said of the right-hander, who made his major-league debut earlier this season and earned his first hold with his effort Monday.
“Really took a big step forward this year. He didn’t get into a spring-training game this year, has had a very, very good season and came up here and showed that he can get good hitters out.
“The swing-and-miss is the thing you kind of take note of – and in the strike zone, too. And when you start to see that, you know a guy’s got good stuff.”
Matt Bush took over for Milner and after allowing a one-out single to Will Smith immediately erased it by getting Turner to ground into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
Consecutive ninth-inning doubles by Willy Adames and Yelich off former Brewer Phil Bickford provided a little more breathing room, then an RBI sacrifice fly by Luis Urías and Hiura’s homer supplied the finishing touches.
“We’ve played so many close games lately, to put a little gap in there and give us some breathing room in the ninth was obviously nice,” said Counsell.
Jason Alexander finished the game up in the ninth, marking just the second time in the last 48 games the Dodgers had been blanked.
Ashby placed on IL
There was also some pre-game news, as the Brewers placed left-hander Aaron Ashby on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation and recalled right-hander Jason Alexander from Class AAA Nashville.
“Aaron played catch yesterday and just didn’t feel good, so that wipes out the possibility of him starting on Wednesday,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters earlier Monday. “He went back to Milwaukee and saw Dr. (William) Raasch.
“At this point it’s minor.”
It’s Ashby’s second stint on the IL this season; he missed 11 games in late June-early July with forearm inflammation.
Right-hander Adrian Houser rejoined the Brewers in Los Angeles instead of making a fourth minor-league rehab start, so it’s likely he’ll be reinstated from the IL and see action on Wednesday with Ashby out.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Eric Lauer, Luis Urías, Keston Hiura lead Brewers over Dodgers