The Los Angeles Dodgers drop a four-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers.
A day after the Los Angeles Dodgers were pummeled by the blazing arm that was Jacob Misiorowski, the Milwaukee Brewers' bats were able to grind out Dodgers starter Tarik Skubal en route to a 6-2 defeat and yet another series loss for Los Angeles in August.
Skubal was on the mound for his second start at Dodger Stadium, and it came against the best team in baseball.
Though he had to battle his way through six grueling innings in the Los Angeles sun, he held Milwaukee to just one earned run on a career-high 109 pitches, striking out seven.
Milwaukee was all over Skubal to kick off his outing. So much so that Skubal was up to 56 pitches thrown heading into the fourth inning. That included a second inning in which he threw 33 pitches.
"They grind at-bats, they put some swings on some balls, but I need to execute some pitches in some two-strike counts a little bit better as well," Skubal said via SportsNetLA.
Along with the high pitch count, the Dodgers' defense was a bit streaky, which did not help Skubal's outing one bit.
Aug 16, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcherTarikSkubal(29) throws pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. -- Jon Endow-Imagn Images"I think I was just frustrated with the pitch count through five [innings]. I think that’s what I was frustrated about. I need to be more efficient, and I’m glad Doc gave me an opportunity to go back out there for the sixth," Skubal said.
This all came to a head in the aforementioned second inning as the southpaw was close to getting out of an inning-ending groundout to get out of a bases-loaded jam. But the handoff from Mookie Betts to Tommy Edman at second went awry, allowing the Brewers to score first.
"I just got to be more consistent; continue to get quality contact on the ground and, sometimes, you need a little bit of luck. You need some guys to hit it at some guys and get some outs that way, but the stuff coming out of my hand is as good as it’s ever been," Skubal told the media.
From here on out, Jake Bauers represented the entirety of the Brewers' offense, recording RBIs in the fifth and seventh innings. By game's end, Bauers went 4-for-4 with two RBIs.
On the flip side, the Dodgers' offense continued to fall face first.
The only source of offense came from solo shots by Max Muncy in the fourth and Andy Pages in the ninth inning.
"Today really sucked; it was a big game, we kinda needed to win this one, and we didn't," Muncy said on the Dodgers performance via SportsNetLA.
They did not have a runner in scoring position until the eighth inning, with runners on the corners for Shohei Ohtani representing the tying run. But that chance was quickly squandered when Ohtani grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Things got worse for the Dodgers as the Brewers tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning, all in part due to an Edman error with the bases loaded.
Los Angeles has committed 25 errors since July 7, the third most in MLB.
With the loss, the Dodgers drop to 74-51 and are now 1-3 against the Brewers.
The Dodgers went 4-3 in their homestand and now look ahead to playing the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field for a three-game set beginning on Monday.
Los Angeles will send out Blake Snell for his second outing coming off the Injured List, Eric Lauer will follow suit on Tuesday, and Roki Sasaki will close things out on Wednesday for the series finale.
