Four Dodgers hit home runs to back Gavin Stone’s best start in over six weeks, and the team only used two pitchers to beat the Brewers 7-2 on Tuesday night in Milwaukee for their fifth consecutive win.
Stone had a 6.91 ERA in six starts since his shutout on June 26 in Chicago. Home runs were the bugaboo during that stretch, allowing eight long balls in just 27⅓ innings after only six home runs in his first 89 frames this season.
William Contreras got Stone for a home run in the third inning on Tuesday, but it was only a solo shot and one of only three hits allowed by Stone on the night. Stone allowed just the one run in his five innings, and struck out six while walking none. The support he received was ample.
Backstop backspin
Will Smith’s last five home runs have all been hit against the Brewers. They just came in a six-week span. Back in Los Angeles, Smith tied a record with home runs in four consecutive bats, three of them on July 5 and one more in his first at-bat on July 6.
But he didn’t homer again until a towering second-inning drive down the left field line to open the scoring on Tuesday.
Smith went exactly 100 plate appearances between home runs, and it was rough sledding. He was 12-for-87 with two doubles, 12 walks, a hit by pitch, and 31 strikeouts, hitting .138/.250/.161 in the nearly 23-game interim. That slump got Smith dropped to sixth in the batting order in the first two games of this series, his lowest lineup spot since hitting sixth on April 29, 2022.
He also singled and doubled in this one, his best game at the plate in more than a month. Even with the long slump, Smith’s 16 home runs are still the most by a National League catcher this season.
Central casting
With Mookie Betts back in his familiar confines of right field, the only real outfield playing time opportunity up for grabs is in center, at least until Tommy Edman gets activated next week. Andy Pages got the call there on Tuesday, and couldn’t quite get to a Jackson Chourio drive in the first inning. That’s a ball I feel comfortable in saying Kevin Kiermaier — who started Monday — would have caught easily, but that’s the trade-off at the moment at the position.
With Pages, you get potential for offensive upside, like when his two-run home run clanked off the foul pole in left field to camp a five-run fourth inning.
