Another day, another dud from the offense

LOS ANGELES – It wasn’t quite a sequel of last October 14, but it definitely had some of the same scenes.

Facing the Milwaukee Brewers for the second time since his complete game masterpiece in last year’s National League Championship Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had his way for six innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers hit two solo home runs off of Robert Gasser for a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium Aug. 14.

On the Brewers side, Gasser was solid. He recorded an out in the seventh inning for only the second time in his big-league career but was ultimately undone by solo homers in the fifth and sixth, respectively, to Andy Pages and Tommy Edman.

BOX SCORE: Dodgers 3, Brewers 1

Milwaukee’s offense, meanwhile, reverted back to its powerless, rudderless form that has been on display for almost every last one of the 47 innings of what is now a 1-4 road trip. Yamamoto, who allowed one run over seven innings against the Brewers in May at American Family Field, mystified the Brewers bats for a third consecutive outing.

“He’s awful good,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That stuff is awful good. The variety he has, the movement on his pitches, his command. Kid’s one of the best in the game. He’s proven that in the short time he’s been here.”

The Dodgers rolled the dice with shaky closer Edwin Díaz and the right-hander turned in another outing that registered on the Richter scale by hitting one and walking two more.

That loaded the bases with two outs for Joey Ortiz and Díaz jammed him with a 98 mph fastball to shortstop for the final out.

Moments before, the Dodgers recorded the second out of the inning on a scalded 104 mph grounder off the bat of Luis Lara that second baseman Tommy Edman made a slick short-hop snag on.

“Scorched,” Murphy said. “Edman makes an unbelievable play. We hit some balls hard. We had some opportunity at the end there, it is what it is. But guys competed all night. That’s all you can ask for.”

Perhaps you could ask for some more runs to go with it, too. Through five games this trip, the Brewers have had only two multi-run innings: the ninth against Díaz the night before and a two-run second in the first game in San Diego.

“We’ve got a lot of guys going through it,” said designated hitter Christian Yelich. “No one feels sorry for you. You just got to keep going and keep working. That’s the only way it gets better. If you stop doing that, then it’s definitely not going to get better. You got to keep working and try to find something that sticks.”

Base running woes continue

A failed hit-and-run that resulted in Jake Bauers being thrown out attempting to steal second for the first out in the sixth was the latest in a potentially troubling trend: The Brewers have bad bad at stealing bases of late.

The Brewers have stolen 11 bases in August while being thrown out 10 times, including five in a row. Included during that stretch of caught stealing was a game-ending try, a rally-killing try in extra innings and two by Jackson Chourio.

Robert Gasser has taken care of Shohei Ohtani

First, a disclaimer: No pitcher can truly have Shohei Ohtani’s number. But insofar as any pitcher can actually dominate Ohtani, Gasser has had great success against the Dodgers megastar.

The Brewers southpaw was included on last year’s NLCS roster almost entirely for the purpose of facing Ohtani, and the Dodgers designated hitter struck out in their sole matchup. Gasser struck him out twice across three hitless at-bats when they faced off in May, then had Ohtani 0 for 3 with another strikeout before losing a seven-pitch battle and walking him in the seventh.

That marked the end of Gasser’s outing, but it’s evident that his sweeper is a viable weapon against the game’s best weapon.

“Don’t give in, regardless of the count,” Gasser said of facing Ohtani. “2-0, 3-1, those are pitches that you want to execute with a two-strike mentality.”

Andy Pages makes Gasser pay

Gasser had been so good since the first inning and was one out away from getting through five with only one run allowed when he hung a two-strike sweeper to Andy Pages.

The Dodgers all-star center fielder didn’t miss it, clubbing it 367 feet to left to take a 2-1 lead.

“I feel like I’ve been trying to get that thing below the zone for a few games now and have struggled to get it there,” Gasser said. “In my head I was trying to go backdoor with it and it leaked.”

An inning later, Gasser gave up another solo shot, this time with Tommy Edman smashing one to the bleachers in left center for his fourth homer of the year.

NLCS flashbacks from Yoshinobu Yamamoto early

Yamamoto wasn’t quite as dominant as he was last October 14, but the Brewers stood about as much of a chance to hit him as they did that night through four innings.

Yamamoto carved the Brewers up through four innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven.

Luis Lara and some small ball, though, tied it up in the fifth. The Brewers rookie right fielder came within inches of his first career homer when he roped a line drive off the top of the wall in right, then came around to score after David Hamilton’s bunt hit and Joey Ortiz’s sac fly.

Dodgers string three singles against Gasser in first

It didn’t take long for L.A. to jump out to a very early lead, splicing together three straight singles in a span of four pitches from Gasser with one out.

Mookie Betts delivered the run with the third one, a hard-hit grounder past a diving Andrew Vaughn, who isn’t exactly baseball’s rangiest third baseman.

“Got thrown in the fire really quick in the first. Able to get out of that,” Gasser said. “But just adjusting to those right-handed bats. They got the two homers off me; Pages, I got to figure that one out. But other than that, good command.”

Brewers probable pitchers and schedule

Brewers at Dodgers, Aug. 15, 6:15 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Jacob Misiorowski (11-5, 1.76) vs. Los Angeles LHP Justin Wrobleski (11-4, 3.44). TV – Fox. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.

Brewers at Dodgers, Aug. 16, 3:10 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Logan Henderson (6-2, 2.88) vs. Los Angeles LHP Tarik Skubal (7-6, 2.93). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.