Andrew Heaney struck out 10 in his first win in four months, Austin Barnes drove in four runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers pummeled the Milwaukee Brewers for the second straight game, winning 12-6 on Wednesday night.
The Dodgers took the season series, 4-3, while outscoring the Brewers 22-11 over the three-game series, including a 10-1 rout on Tuesday. Los Angeles has scored 10 or more runs in three of its last four games.
Los Angeles has the best record in baseball (86-37) and leads second-place San Diego by a whopping 19 1/2 games in the NL West, making everything they do lately look easy.
“Sometimes it feels that way, but you feel that way you get your butt kicked the next day,” said Trea Turner, who was 2 for 2 with three walks. “Today we took care of business.”
Heaney enjoyed strong run support as the Dodgers pounded out 13 hits and batted around in the first and fourth innings. Hitting in the ninth spot, Barnes slugged a two-run homer with two outs in the sixth, extending the lead to 12-2.
“The offense is who they are, it's what they do,” Heaney said. “Gives you the comfort to go out there and attack.”
Heaney (2-1) allowed two runs and four hits, walked one and struck out 10 Brewers — one off his season high — for the second time in a week, giving him back-to-back 10-strikeout outings for the first time since June 2019.
“It seems like he's got 10 punch outs every game and you don't know it until you look up at the scoreboard,” Trea Turner said. “There's always one guy that gets no run support and one that gets runs on every team. I guess he's been the lucky one.”
Heaney won for the first time since April 17. The right-hander had five consecutive no-decisions and a loss at Milwaukee last week between victories. Heaney has been on the injured list twice, most recently in July with left shoulder inflammation.
“Feeling better, trying to get deeper in games and get more pitch efficient and stay away from a couple mistakes that have cost me big-time the last couple games,” Heaney said.
The Brewers had just one runner in scoring position until the seventh. That's when Willy Adames hit a two-run double to deep left off reliever Caleb Ferguson. Adames went 3 for 4, including his 25th homer, and drove in three runs, as did Hunter Renfroe, who was 3 for 5.
The Brewers were in trouble from the start.
Coming off the injured list earlier in the day, Adrian Houser (4-9) needed 39 pitches to get out of the first when the Dodgers jumped all over him while drawing three walks and scoring four runs to take a 4-1 lead.
Mookie Betts and Trea Turner walked back-to-back to open the inning. Betts scored on Freddie Freeman’s RBI single. Turner scored on Justin Turner’s infield single to shortstop. Justin Turner came home on Cody Bellinger's two-run, two-out double to right field.
Freeman and Trea Turner are 1-2 for most hits in the majors. Freeman is at 156 and Turner is one behind.
“It seems like whenever one of us gets a hit, the other one does too,” Turner said. “That friendly competition is good.”
Making his first start since June 30, Houser gave up five runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked four.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: INF Gavin Lux (neck) is day-to-day but likely to return this weekend.
SLO-PITCH
The Brewers used a position player to pitch for the second straight game. Infielder Pablo Reyes took the mound in the eighth and a few of his pitches were so slow they didn't register on the radar gun. He mostly reached the mid-40s.
The Dodgers did the same thing, sending infielder Hanser Alberto out in the ninth for the second night in a row. He took over from Freeman who came out early before finishing off on the mound. Alberto gave up a two-run homer to Renfroe in the ninth after hitting Keston Hiura, who pretended to double over in pain and stood up smiling.
“That was a bad matchup,” Barnes joked of Alberto vs. Renfroe.
UP NEXT
Brewers: After an off day, RHP Freddy Peralta (4-3, 4.08 ERA) starts Friday at home against the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers are 3-3 in his starts with opponents hitting .210.
Dodgers: LHP Tyler Anderson (13-2, 2.73) starts Friday in the opener of a four-game set at Miami. He leads the team with 135 1/3 innings pitched and is third in strikeouts with 107.
