LOS ANGELES _ It was a victory that had special meaning in many ways.
When the Milwaukee Brewers held off the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium behind a strong showing by starter Jimmy Nelson and the bullpen, it ended a long three-city trip on an uplifting note.
Instead of going 4-5 on the trip and coming home three games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central, the Brewers went 5-4 and returned only two games back. When they departed 10 days ago, they were one game behind, so they survived a tough portion of the schedule in good shape.
Making the victory more significant, the Brewers became the first team to claim a series from the runaway Dodgers since the first week of June. Los Angeles had gone 19-0-3 in its previous 22 series.
It certainly didn't come easy. Closer Corey Knebel had to strike out pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer with two on in the ninth to save it.
Right-hander Yu Darvish, acquired from Texas for the stretch run and postseason, returned from a back issue to make the start for Los Angeles. The Brewers got to him for a tainted run in the first inning, scoring when shortstop Corey Seager let what would have been an inning-ending double-play grounder by Travis Shaw go through his legs.
With one down in the Brewers third, Hernan Perez, subbing for struggling Ryan Braun, ripped a home run to left-center, his 13th of the season. Neil Walker followed with a walk and motored to third when Shaw ripped a double into the right-field corner.
Domingo Santana smacked a single into center, scoring Walker for a 3-0 lead. When Shaw also tried to score on the hit, center fielder Chris Taylor threw him out by a wide margin to stop the damage.
The Brewers had a chance to pad their lead in the fifth when Eric Sogard led off with a booming ground-rule double to right-center and Perez followed with a walk. But Walker grounded sharply into a double play and that inning fizzled.
Nelson cruised into the sixth inning with a no-hitter, but things suddenly started going wrong. With one out, pinch-hitter Chase Utley lined a single to center for the Dodgers' first hit.
Sogard made a nice play on Taylor's grounder in the hole at second to throw him out, with Utley advancing. After a wild pitch moved Utley to third, Seager smacked a RBI single to center and advanced another base when Keon Broxton let the ball get by.
Justin Turner hit followed with what should have been the third out of the inning _ a soft fly ball to shallow right. But Santana lost the ball in the sun and it landed safely for what was ruled a run-scoring double, cutting the Brewers' lead to 3-2.
With one on and two down in the bottom of the seventh, Yasiel Puig was announced as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers. Reliever Anthony Swarzak took over for Nelson and got the out, thanks to a tremendous play by Sogard, who ranged up the middle, fielded Puig's sharp grounder and bounced up to throw him out at first.
