LOS ANGELES – Christian Yelich hit Bobby Miller's first pitch of the game for a single. Then the rookie walked William Contreras.
“After that inning just got to forget about what's happening and focus on getting that first guy out every inning,” Miller said. “When I'm commanding the ball and throwing it where I want to things usually go well.”
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Indeed they did.
Miller tossed six innings of one-run ball and retired the final 18 batters he faced to help the Los Angeles Dodgers win their ninth straight game, 6-2 over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.
“The bar for us is not a particular opponent, it's ourselves,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The NL West-leading Dodgers are riding their longest winning streak since taking 12 in a row from July 31-Aug. 13 last year. They improved to 13-1 this month and are a season-best 26 games over .500 at 72-46.
“We're just focused on the task at hand,” said Mookie Betts, who got the Dodgers' first hit with a single in the fourth. “Nobody needs to do more than they're capable of doing.”
Miller (7-2) allowed one hit in his first win since July 22. The right-hander struck out four and walked one.
Ryan Yarbrough earned his first save of the season with three innings of relief.
The NL Central-leading Brewers had their three-game winning streak snapped.
The Dodgers sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs while breaking open a tie game in the sixth.
In his first game since Aug. 6, J.D. Martinez doubled off the wall in left, chasing Adrian Houser (4-4) and scoring Will Smith, who reached on a throwing error by third baseman Andruw Monasterio.
Pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández followed with a single up the middle off Hoby Milner, scoring Max Muncy and Martinez. Hernández scored on Miguel Rojas' single to left. Betts followed with a RBI single to the same spot off Bryse Wilson for a 6-1 lead.
Miller was backed by sparkling defense. Center fielder James Outman made a diving catch of Tyrone Taylor’s liner to open the sixth. Shortstop Rojas fielded a ball over the head of Miller and got the speedy Yelich for the second out of the inning.
The Brewers scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Sal Frelick in the first. Carlos Santana had a 442-foot blast leading off the seventh against Yarbrough, his first homer in 20 career games against the Dodgers.
Houser gave up four runs — three earned — and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked none.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Brewers: RHP J.C. Mejía (right shoulder inflammation) went on 15-day IL. ... OF Jesse Winker (back spasms) began a rehab assignment for Class-A Wisconsin.
Dodgers: Moved OF Jake Marisnick (hamstring) to 60-day DL.
UP NEXT
In a matchup of left-handers, Wade Miley (6-2, 2.90 ERA) starts for the Brewers on Wednesday against Clayton Kershaw (10-4, 2.51).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB