Drayage Brokersin Milwaukee, WI

LOS ANGELES -- Despite winning a franchise-record 111 games in 2022, the Dodgers came into this season with some question marks. Most wondered if this would be the year they finally loosened the tight grip they’ve had over the National League West for most of the last decade.

Fast forward four-and-a-half months into the ‘23 season and nothing has changed. The Dodgers are still a machine during the regular season and, once again, one of the best teams in the Majors. All they do during the summer is win baseball games.

With a 7-1 victory over the Brewers on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers did what they do best and have now won a season-high 10 consecutive games. They also improved to 14-1 since the start of August.

“Just great baseball,” said Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw. “Defensively, guys are making plays all over the field. Offensively, a lot of hits with runners in scoring position. And then pitching-wise, I think everybody has stepped up in the rotation. … And you can’t discredit what the bullpen is doing. They’ve been unbelievable. It’s been awesome.”

During the current streak, the Dodgers have won in a multitude of ways. The starting pitching and bullpen have been terrific, a constant throughout the streak. That continued on Wednesday, as Kershaw made his second start since coming back from the injured list with a left shoulder injury, allowing just one run and striking out two over five innings of work.

“Well, I thought the last one was better than this one,” Kershaw said. “There were some good throws in there, but overall, it wasn’t pretty. Really, there’s not a lot to build on. Just pitch better next time and hopefully, go a little deeper and maybe get some ground balls and strikeouts and not so many lineouts.”

Kershaw only threw 71 pitches before L.A. turned to the bullpen. Finding ways to limit Kershaw’s workload is something the Dodgers will continue to do for the rest of the regular season. The club’s goal is to get the likely first-ballot Hall of Famer into October feeling healthy. It’s a luxury they can afford given their 10-game lead over the second-place Giants atop the NL West.

“I think to get him out of the game right there, maybe wanting for more and being able to go maybe another inning,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought, given where we were at, it was the right decision and I feel good about him getting an extra day to make the next start in Cleveland. And [we’ll] go from there.”

At the plate, the Dodgers have also shown they can win a game by any means necessary. On Tuesday, it was the bottom of the order and the bench that took care of business. On Wednesday, it was the star power that wore down Milwaukee.

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Mookie Betts went 3-for-4 with a walk, scoring every time he reached base -- in large part because of what Freddie Freeman was able to do right behind him. That’s been a theme all season long for the Dodgers.

“You really need a couple guys atop the lineup to get teams rolling,” Betts said. “If it’s not me, it’s Freddie. If it’s not Freddie, it’s me. Sometimes, it’s both of us. I think we both take ownership of getting us going.”

Freeman, who had gone hitless in three consecutive games -- which feels like an eternity given the extraordinary season he’s having offensively -- went 2-for-5 with a single and a double, which extended his Major League lead to 44 two-baggers. Freeman set a career high with 47 doubles last season. At this pace, he could have a new career high by the end of the weekend.

Aside from Freeman and Betts, the Dodgers also got contributions from Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor, both of whom hit solo homers. It continues to be a team effort for the Dodgers, who’ve outscored opponents, 61-22, during the 10-game streak.

And they’re not showing any real signs of slowing down any time soon.

“They match up well against anybody,” said Brewers starter Wade Miley. “That’s a really good team over there. They’re getting healthy on the pitching side again. You have to play clean baseball to beat a team like that, and we just haven’t the last couple of days.”

Milwaukee Brewers (65-56, first in the NL Central) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (73-46, first in the NL West)

Los Angeles; Thursday, 10:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Brewers: Corbin Burnes (9-6, 3.60 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 146 strikeouts); Dodgers: Lance Lynn (9-9, 5.88 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 166 strikeouts)

: Dodgers -144, Brewers +122; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to keep their nine-game home win streak alive when they take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Los Angeles has a 40-20 record in home games and a 73-46 record overall. The Dodgers have the seventh-ranked team ERA in the NL at 4.26.

Milwaukee has a 32-29 record in road games and a 65-56 record overall. The Brewers have a 41-18 record in games when they record eight or more hits.

Thursday's game is the sixth meeting between these teams this season. The Dodgers hold a 4-1 advantage in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Freddie Freeman has 45 doubles, two triples, 23 home runs and 84 RBI for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts is 16-for-41 with four doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI over the last 10 games.

Christian Yelich leads the Brewers with a .287 batting average, and has 27 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, 59 walks and 67 RBI. William Contreras is 10-for-40 with a home run and seven RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Dodgers: 10-0, .296 batting average, 2.10 ERA, outscored opponents by 39 runs

Brewers: 6-4, .219 batting average, 3.72 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs

INJURIES: Dodgers: Jake Marisnick: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Joe Kelly: 15-Day IL (forearm), Yency Almonte: 15-Day IL (knee), Michael Grove: 15-Day IL (lat), Jonny Deluca: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Shelby Miller: 60-Day IL (neck), Daniel Hudson: 60-Day IL (knee), Tyler Cyr: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Dustin May: 60-Day IL (forearm), Jimmy Nelson: 60-Day IL (elbow), Alex Reyes: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Gavin Lux: 60-Day IL (knee), Walker Buehler: 60-Day IL (elbow), Blake Treinen: 60-Day IL (shoulder), J.P. Feyereisen: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Brewers: Jean Carlos Mejia: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Blake Perkins: 10-Day IL (oblique), Justin Wilson: 60-Day IL (lat), Julio Teheran: 15-Day IL (hip), Jesse Winker: 10-Day IL (back), Rowdy Tellez: 10-Day IL (forearm), Darin Ruf: 60-Day IL (knee), Eric Lauer: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Garrett Mitchell: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Aaron Ashby: 60-Day IL (labrum)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

LOS ANGELES — After every at-bat that Christian Yelich takes, he’ll find time in the dugout to have a conversation with Brewers hitting coach Connor Dawson.

Sometimes, the conversation is drawn out. They’ll analyze everything. Sometimes, it’s far more simple. “Good swing” or “Bad swing.” No need to dwell on what happened, but important to at least acknowledge it.

Yelich was, for two years, one of the game’s great young superstars. He won the MVP award in 2018, then had an even better season the year after. He signed a nine year, $215 million contract extension with Milwaukee. Life in this sport was good.

The conversations after every at-bat? They’re all in the name of getting back to being that player. For the last three seasons, Yelich’s offense was just about league average. His name carried cachet. His stats did not.

Yelich might not be a superstar player right now. He might never be one again. But the 2023 season has been nothing short of a resurgence. His OPS is .838 — a full 100 points better than 2022. He’s collected 16 homers and 27 doubles. Those totals eclipse each of the last two full seasons.

“You can still be a good player,” Yelich told The Athletic. “Obviously everyone’s always going to compare your best career seasons. You can do that with any player. You can take any guy’s best season.”

Just because they might not live up to that best season every year, Yelich said, doesn’t mean they can’t contribute.

“I know that you’re going to be compared to those seasons sometimes, but I think I’m pretty capable of having productive years,” he said. “Which I’ve done this year and continue to do.”

Christian Yelich is mashing fastballs, which has fueled his resurgence. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

His 2023 numbers aren’t gaudy. They don’t make him one of the game’s most feared hitters.

But his story is one of mental and physical perseverance, rationalizing and understanding the root of his struggles, and making regular adjustments at the plate. Now he’s playing a critical role on the first-place Brewers as an everyday leadoff hitter. He’s also an example to an otherwise young core of players of how to get through the lowest lows.

“He carried a lot. He took it really personally,” said Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy. “It hurt him very badly. More than it probably would the normal guy. He felt an awesome sense of responsibility.

“But like true warriors, true champions, he came through it.”

There’s a mix of factors that got Yelich back to this point. Health is a critical component. He dealt with lingering back issues in years past. Mechanical changes are part of his story, as well. Dawson said the adjustments he worked on last year were scattered. This year, there’s more purpose behind them.

In May, he altered his leg kick to become more of a toe tap. He’s got an .892 OPS since the start of that month, compared to .656 in April.

Christian Yelich celebrates a walk-off RBI with Jesse Winker. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

Then there’s the mental adjustment. The understanding, that, after three years, he doesn’t have to chase his MVP season. He looks at tape from those years regularly with hitting coaches. They’re looking for clues of what worked then. But there’s a difference between doing that and playing in the hopes that he’ll be that guy again.

It’s also impossible to ignore the timing of his extension aligning with his decline. It’s a massive responsibility. One he clearly took seriously, possibly to his own detriment.

“When you sign a contract, you feel it. That’s just the facts,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell. “You want that player that you (had) sign that contract to feel it. That’s what you want. That’s why you sign that guy.”

Yelich’s teammate, third baseman Brian Anderson, got an up close look in Miami. It was the final month for Yelch with the Marlins, and the first month for Anderson in the majors.

He got to see Yelich before he blossomed into his MVP form the following season in Milwaukee. He said everyone in the Marlins organization viewed him as a budding superstar. They saw he was coming into his power.

They became teammates again in 2023 — years after he became that star. And, now, after he lost it. He’s seen Yelich as he established himself. Now, again as he’s re-establishing himself.

“Baseball is such a game of ups and downs,” Anderson said. “And I think for him, what I’ve seen is his ability to stay consistent with his work and his routines. He’s always making adjustments with his swing, but he’s still the same great player that he’s always been.”

There are many clichéd baseball words. Any form of “consistent” is probably the most cliché of them all. And certainly, Yelich’s performance over the years has not been consistent. But it’s clear that his approach to handling his day-to-day responsibilities has remained steady.

He almost never takes a day off. He’s doing the same work. And keeping the same outward attitude, even if internally he’s felt the weight of this years-long slump.

“If you try and chase years prior, it doesn’t really work that way,” Yelich said. “You kind of just have to start everything new. When you’ve played a lot of games and taken a lot of at-bats — you never have it figured out, by any means, in baseball. But you definitely had good times, had bad times. You learn from it.”

Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis hadn’t finished saying “And off we go” on Tuesday night before the first pitch of the game was being lined into center field off of Yelich’s bat. It came on a 99.4 mph Bobby Miller fastball. Catching up to those pitches in a meaningful way has been a huge boon this season. Yelich hit .241 against fastballs in 2020, .271 in 2021, and .290 last year. For most hitters, heaters present the best chance for results.

Christian Yelich’s resurgence

This year, Yelich is hitting a .337 against fastballs. He’s got 12 homers against the pitch. He had 15 total the last three years combined. Eliminating the leg kick helped with timing and balance. This is the result.

At just 31, there’s still time to fully recapture those elite seasons and repeat them. Dawson, his hitting coach, said confidently that he believes it’s possible. But that won’t be what drives Yelich. Or how the Brewers coach him. He might not be a superstar, or even an All-Star. But he’s doing what this team needs of him right now.

“I just wasn’t doing things that I needed to, to be as successful as I wanted,” Yelich said. “I wasn’t awful by any means, but I wasn’t as good as I knew I could be. The more years you play, you have to tinker and find ways to be successful. There’s not always one way to go about it.”

(Top photo of Christian Yelich: Rich Schultz / Getty Images)

New "Top Chef" host and Season 10 winner Kristen Kish and judge Gail Simmons hit up a Milwaukee icon this week and tried one of Cream City's delicacies. They also dined at a Laotian and Thai noodle shop that our dining critic recently raved about.

The competition-based cooking show is filming its 21st season in Milwaukee and Madison this year. It plans to air in early 2024 on Bravo and the Peacock streaming service.

Now back to that delicacy. If you guessed custard, you'd be right.

Kish and Simmons took a trip to Leon's Frozen Custard, 3131 S. 27th Street, Milwaukee's second oldest custard shop.

"OK Milwaukee, I get it now," Simmons said in an Instagram post. "First, of what I hope to be many life-changing frozen custards, with @kcastillolkish. It’s a real thing."

From pictures the two shared on Insta, it looks like Simmons ordered a cone with chocolate and vanilla custards, and Kish opted for a vanilla cone.

Leon's daily flavors are vanilla, chocolate, butter pecan and a flavor of the day, which is either strawberry, raspberry, mint, maple nut, cinnamon or blue moon. The shop also has a full-service soda fountain, limited sandwich menu, sundaes, floats, malts and shakes.

Leon Schneider opened Leon's in 1942, and the Schneider family has run it ever since.

'Top Chef' host, judge visit Vientiane Noodle Shop

Also this week, Kish and Simmons shared their visit to Vientiane Noodle Shop, 3422 W. National Avenue, on Instagram.

Kish's thoughts? "So good."

She wrote that over a bird's-eye view of a table of entrees posted to her Story. We think we spot some pad Thai, fried chicken wings and soups, possibly the Khao Poun and Tom Yum Goong.

Simmons re-shared the photo and said: "Milwaukee is spicier than anticipated and I like it."

According to Journal Sentinel dining critic Rachel Bernhard, Vientiane has "some of the best pho in the city," including classic beef, seafood, duck, oxtail and chicken all swimming in a steamy, earthy broth. She also recommended their Laotian larb salad, any of their "stellar" pan-fried noodle dishes, and mango sticky rice.

If you have suggestions on where you think the "Top Chef" crew should be eating, they're looking for recs.

'Top Chef' spotted filming at Whole Foods on Prospect Avenue

On Sunday, Milwaukee shoppers and social media users at Whole Foods on Prospect Avenue spotted what appeared to be "Top Chef" crews filming in the grocery store.

One Twitter/X user posted a screenshot from the Instagram account @noshmke showing crew members filming with the caption, "'Top Chef' was filming at the MKE Whole Foods today. After being a fan of the show for so many years, this was beyond cool to see in person."

TMJ4 News also posted photos of "Top Chef" crew members filming at the store.

Claire Reid of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES – Nearly five years after Wade Miley’s famed one-batter appearance at Dodger Stadium in the 2018 National League Championship Series, the left-hander stepped onto the mound in Los Angeles once again.

There was no Brandon Woodruff warming up in the bullpen to take over after the first hitter in the bottom of the first this time. The stakes were notably lower than they were on that October afternoon in 2018 for Game 5.

The result for the Milwaukee Brewers, though?

The same: a loss.

The Dodgers, for the second straight night, took advantage of a handful of Brewers mistakes and cruised behind starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw and a meager three-hit performance from Milwaukee's offense for a 7-1 win Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

With the loss and coinciding wins by the Reds and Cubs, the Brewers, who have five hits across two losses to start the series, saw their lead in the division shrink to 2 ½ games while the scalding Dodgers picked up their 10th win in a row.

Box score: Dodgers 7, Brewers 1

A rare sighting of two catcher’s interferences put Brewers in early hole

The bat of Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez and Brewers catcher William Contreras’ glove grew well-acquainted.

With runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the first, Martinez swung at a cutter on the inside corner from Miley and nicked the glove of Brewers catcher William Contreras for a catcher’s interference to load the bases.

Miley got the grounder he needed against the next batter, Amed Rosario, but as was a theme for much of the night, the weak contact was located well enough to benefit the Dodgers as the Brewers had no chance at turning a double play and a run scored.

"It’s frustrating but you got to tip your hat to those guys," Miley said. "I didn’t execute as well as I needed to, for sure, against a lineup like that. But I felt like every ground ball had a GPS hooked to it. I couldn’t get them to hit it at nobody."

Martinez came up the next inning with the Dodgers leading, 2-1, thanks to Miguel Rojas' solo homer with two outs. The bases were loaded with two outs for Martinez after Will Smith’s excuse-me infield single.

It appeared as though Martinez's back foot may have been planted outside the batter's box, but the Brewers nevertheless had no qualms with where he was standing.

"I’ve just to go make an adjustment," Contreras said. "Obviously, it happened once. You've got to be able to make an adjustment after the first one and look where the hitter’s set up and go from there."

"It’s a fine line," Brewers manager Craig Counsell added. "Frankly, we want our catcher as close to the hitter as you can. That helps with receiving. Unfortunately, just the way Martinez swings kind of produced those tonight."

Miley appeared to get out of the inning thanks to a slick play by Willy Adames at shortstop, but alas, it wasn't meant to be; Martinez had again caught Contreras’ glove with his swing.

Instead of the inning being over, it was 3-1, Dodgers.

Those weren’t the only miscues that hurt the Brewers

Right-hander Abner Uribe relieved Miley after the southpaw went five innings allowing four runs, including three earned, on seven hits and two walks. Uribe got the first two outs of the sixth, allowed a single to Mookie Betts and then gave up a fly ball to the warning track to Freddie Freeman.

The ball was playable for center fielder Joey Wiemer, who however got caught in between in a decision of whether to jump, but landed on the base of the wall instead. The miscue – which was initially ruled a double but corrected to an error after the game – directly led to two runs as Betts scored on the play and Freeman then came home on Smith’s ensuing RBI single.

That gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead, which was extended to 7-1 by Brewers nemesis Chris Taylor’s solo homer off Andrew Chafin in the seventh.

The offense didn’t do much, either

It was a frustrating night for the Brewers offense for multiple reasons.

They weren't without plenty of hard contact early on against Kershaw, who went five innings in his second start back from the injured list, but aside from Mark Canha's solo homer leading off the second, none of it led to any runs.

Joey Wiemer flew out to the wall in left to end the second, Adames hit a double in the fourth that missed clearing the fence by all of one foot, then later that inning Sal Frelick smashed a line drive right at Freeman at first for an unassisted double play.

The batted ball with the highest exit velocity on the night for either side belonged to Christian Yelich, who tattooed a frozen rope against Kershaw in the fifth. Of course, Mookie Betts flagged it down in right.

"I thought we did a decent job against Kershaw," Counsell said. "Had some good swings. Didn’t get a ball to drop to kind of create a big opportunity."

The end results were frustratingly ugly for the second straight game. The Dodgers bullpen of Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier and former Brewer Gus Varland, who made his Dodgers debut with two scoreless innings, held the Brewers hitless over the final four innings.

On Tuesday, the Brewers had one hit after the first inning. Wednesday, they were hitless after the fourth.

Milwaukee has as many errors – five – as hits in the series.

"It's not enough," Counsell said.

Brewers revisit the scene (and matchup) of the infamous Game 5 from 2018

The 2018 Brewers were similar in some ways to the current team in that they were built around a strong pitching staff, but the process of how they got those outs differed.

Milwaukee had a cast of excellent pitchers, but it had few proven arms in the rotation to shoulder a heavy load like it does now. Instead, the Brewers weren’t bound by structure or convention in how they deployed their pitchers.

“We just did things a little bit differently,” Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff said. “That’s how we had to.”

Never was that more apparent than Game 5, when the Brewers announced Miley as the starter to get the Dodgers to put out a lineup featuring right-handed hitters, then pulled a bait-and-switch with Woodruff coming out after one batter.

“I just never came outside before the game,” Woodruff said. “I was sitting back there in the bullpen by the tunnel that goes back to the clubhouse. I’m sitting back there watching (Miley) warm up. As soon as they exchanged lineup cards, the lineup’s set, they can’t make any changes. As soon as that happened, I started warming up in the bullpen as Wade’s walking in.”

The move, in some ways, it worked. In others, it didn't.

The Brewers got the platoon advantage they wanted and led through four innings, but Woodruff allowed three runs in the fifth and sixth and the offense couldn't get all that much going against Kershaw in a 5-2 loss.

The Brewers lost the series in seven games, but there was no question as to whether that team could stack up against the Dodgers, the National League's perennial powerhouse.

Entering the seventh game of that series, the season series was almost an even split at 7-6 in favor of the Dodgers. Take out a 21-5 blowout at Dodger Stadium in August and the run margin was almost even, too, at a +2 for Milwaukee.

Can these Brewers compete with the likes of the Dodgers if they make the playoffs?

The last couple of nights have been ugly, as was much of the series between the teams in Milwaukee in May.

Miley, though, believes the Brewers will be able to line up with the Dodgers, or anyone else, in an October setting.

"It’s such a different animal when you get to the postseason," he said. "Obviously, they’re really good. We have a good team in here, as well. We just haven’t played as crisp as we need to play."

Brewers schedule coming up

Thursday – Brewers at Dodgers, 9:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (9-6, 3.60) vs. Los Angeles RHP Lance Lynn (9-9, 5.88). TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.

Tonight's Milwaukee Brewers lineup

LF Christian Yelich

C William Contreras

1B Carlos Santana

DH Mark Canha

SS Willy Adames

2B Andruw Monasterio

RF Sal Frelick

CF Joey Wiemer

3B Brian Anderson

P Wade Miley