Brewers 6, Dodgers 2: Tarik Skubal solid as bats are silenced by Logan Henderson

Dustin Nosler 08/16/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

With the season series tiebreaker on the line against the Brewers and Tarik Skubal facing off against Logan Henderson — the pitcher Milwaukee wouldn’t trade to get Skubal — the bats laid an absolute egg in a 6-2 loss.

The loss clinches the season series for the Brewers against the Dodgers and opens up a 3-game lead over them. It probably should have been — at worst — a series split, but the Dodgers pissing away Thursday’s game prevented that.

Skubal delivered a “workman” like performance — as described by Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser.

  • 6 IP
  • 7 H
  • 2 R
  • 1 ER
  • 2 BB
  • 7 K
  • 109 pitches
  • 77 strikes

It was the first time Skubal threw 100 pitches or more in a game this season. That sounds odd, but when you remember he missed six or so weeks after elbow surgery and it makes sense. We haven’t seen the very best of Skubal as a Dodger yet, but he finished his day by striking out the side, giving us a glimpse of his ceiling.

He allowed an unearned run in the second inning, when Tommy Edman couldn’t catch the throw from Mookie Betts that would have ended the inning.

The other run came with two outs — as all Milwaukee’s have the last two days — when Jake Bauers (who went 4-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs) flared a changeup in off the plate into right field to score Jackson Chourio.

The other two runs for the Brewers came in the seventh inning off the combination of Edgardo Henriquez and Alex Vesia.

The Dodgers’ first run came on Max Muncy‘s 4th-inning solo home run. It was his 24th of the season and came on a day when he celebrated the 10-year anniversary of his MLB debut.

They threatened in the eighth inning. With one out, Teoscar Hernandez punched a single by Jonathan Ornelas on a 3-1 pitch that really should have resulted in an out. Hunter Feduccia then lined a single off Ornelas’ glove that didn’t score Hernandez because he had to hold up. Shohei Ohtani came to the dish to face Aaron Ashby — fresh off a 2-inning save on 31 pitches on Saturday — and promptly grounded into a double play. It’s been that way for the Dodgers of late.

The Dodgers allowed two runs in the ninth on sloppy defensive plays by Kyle Tucker and Edman. Tucker couldn’t catch a deep fly ball by Chourio that was generously ruled a double and Edman — trying to get a force at home — let the ball skip off his glove to make it a 6-1 game.

With the 2-3-4 hitters up, DL Hall was deployed and allowed a a garbage-time solo home run to Andy Pages (his 21st of the season), but nothing else.

It’s not just the fact that they’re losing; it’s the way they’re losing. The bullpen, the bats and sometimes the starting pitching (hi, Justin Wrobleski). It’s not a fun watch right now. They went through a similar slump last year and everything turned out OK, but man, this is rough.

——

The Dodgers fall to 74-51 with the loss, while the Brewers improve their MLB-best record to 77-48. The Dodgers now travel to Colorado to begin a 3-game series with the Rockies. If the bats can’t get going there … yikes. Blake Snell (0-1, 5.00 ERA) makes his second start since returning from the injured list. He’ll be opposed by Tomoyuki Sugano (12-5, 4.43 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. Pacific time.

About Dustin Nosler

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Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 on his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue, and co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a one-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, California.
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