LOS ANGELES _ It happened. The Los Angeles Dodgers lost back-to-back games for the first time in five weeks. Between Saturday and Sunday at Dodger Stadium, they managed only nine hits, two runs, and no wins. Sunday's score was close, a 3-2 defeat to Milwaukee in which the Dodgers were without a hit for the majority of the afternoon.
The Dodgers (91-38) had not lost a series since June 5-7. Already winners of 92 games this season, the outcomes of their next 30-plus games are not much of a concern, but the performances of a few of their players will be intensely monitored.
Chief among those is Yu Darvish, the prized trade-deadline acquisition who missed his last start because of back soreness. The right-hander pitched Sunday and did not do so particularly well.
In five innings, Darvish threw 95 pitches, struck out seven and walked three. It was his third start in four appearances as a Dodger that did not live up to his expectations. To begin, he walked Eric Sogard, and set down Hernan Perez on strikes. After Neil Walker blooped a single into left, Travis Shaw tapped a ball to shortstop, where Corey Seager reacted late to let it travel between his legs for an error.
After an inning-ending double play, Darvish allowed a leadoff single to Stephen Vogt in the second, then struck out the side. He still struggled to command his fastball to finish the inning against Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson. That troubled him in the third, too.
With one out, he left a fastball up to Perez, who hit it out for a solo shot to center field. Next, he walked Walker and permitted a double to Shaw. When right fielder Domingo Santana singled up the middle, both men tried to score. Only Walker did successfully.
In the fourth, Darvish set down the Brewers. In the fifth, he let the first two men on, then escaped the jam as backup warmed behind him in the Dodgers' bullpen. Pedro Baez replaced him for the sixth and became one of four relievers to throw a scoreless inning.
Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson held the Dodgers hitless until the sixth. In the second, Adrian Gonzalez lined into an inning-ending double play after Curtis Granderson walked. In the fourth, Granderson missed a home run by a few feet, then struck out looking on a borderline curveball.
With one out in the sixth, pinch-hitter Chase Utley ripped a one-out single into center, and took second when Chris Taylor grounded out. Seager smashed the second pitch he saw into center field, where Keon Broxton overran it, allowing Utley to score easily and Seager to take second.
Justin Turner next skied a ball into right field. A half-second before it was to touch down, it became clear that Santana had not located the baseball. As it hit the grass, Santana had taken to protecting himself. So it went as a run-scoring double.
With a man on first and no outs two innings later, a similar ball headed toward Santana off the bat of Chris Taylor. The crowd oohed, but Santana had added sunglasses to his repertoire, and he made the catch.
There were other chances. Pinch-hitter Austin Barnes notched a one-out single in the seventh, soon setting the stage for another pinch-hitter, Yasiel Puig, who had an up-the-middle single stolen from him by Eric Sogard.
The Dodgers put two men on in the ninth for pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer, he of the walk-off hit in his major league debut last month. He battled to eight pitches against Milwaukee closer Corey Knebel, but struck out swinging on a 98-mph fastball to end it.
