Dave Roberts laments Dodgers dropping series to

The Dodgers needed a pivotal win Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. And Tarik Skubal did his half, giving up just one earned run on seven hits over six innings.

“Seemed like they had a good approach,” Skubal, who threw a season-high 109 pitches. “My job doesn’t change. I got to continue to make pitches and continue to get ahead and throw strikes, and I felt like I did that.”

But it wasn’t enough.

Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson quashed the Dodgers’ offense, giving up just three hits and one run over seven innings, to give the Brewers a 6-2 win in entrance of an announced crowd of 45,828.

The Dodgers (74-51) misplaced the four-game series 3-1 and also dropped the season series against the Brewers 4-3. The Dodgers path Milwaukee (77-48) by three video games for the best document in baseball.

“I really wanted to win this game because it could matter,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts said. “But we didn’t, so now we got to move forward. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.”

Panic hasn’t — and presumably received’t — set into the Dodgers’ clubhouse. The two-time defending champions, however, are nicely conscious they’ve misplaced 11 of their past 16 video games.

“This has been cumulative,” Roberts said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been consistent offensively. … I just don’t see the consistent plan of attack, one through nine. The results are hard, hitting’s hard, but I do think that fighting and winning pitches, spoiling pitches — that’s care, hunger. 
And that’s a reason why [when] you look at four and a half months of the season, the Brewers have outscored us. … A team that’s young and hungry. It’s certainly not talent.

“We just haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense and not converting an out … it’s just not winning baseball. Our pedigree [and] what we typically do is control the zone, grind it, grind at-bats [and] create stress. We’re not doing that.”

The Brewers struck first with two outs in the second inning after Luis Lara grounded into a bases-loaded fielder’s selection; Tommy Edman dropped an awkward flip to second base from Mookie Betts, ensuing in an error and a 1-0 Milwaukee lead.

Max Muncy bought to Henderson in the fourth by hitting a tying home run 370 ft to proper discipline. In the next inning, Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers hit a go-ahead single to proper off Skubal, scoring Jackson Chourio from second after his double.

“I just got to be better in those moments,” Skubal said. “You know, the slider down and in to Lara’s got to be probably a little bit more down and in, and the changeup to Bauers has got to be a more quality pitch. … So as much as it’s in the kind of grind of at-bats, they also put some swings on some balls. But I need to execute some pitches and some two-strike counts a little better as well.”

The Brewers added two insurance coverage runs in the seventh, as Bauers and Andrew Vaughn collected a pair of RBI knocks against left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. They bought two more in the ninth after a second bases-loaded error by Edman got here when he failed to discipline a uneven ground ball from David Hamilton, permitting Chourio and Lara to rating.

“We have a lot of guys with reputations that can really pick the ball,” Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt said of the defensive woes. “I don’t think we’re really worried about [it]. All these things are going to help us in the long run.”

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts walks back to the dugout after hanging out in the seventh inning.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers had a probability to crawl nearer with one out in the eighth, with Teoscar Hernández on third and Hunter Feduccia on first. But Shohei Ohtani grounded into a double play against Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby.

Andy Pages hit a solo home run in the ninth, but it got here too late to matter.

“It can’t happen all at once,” Roberts said of a potential turnaround. “It just kind of starts building, collectively. And once we do that, then you get the big hit, things like that. But it’s a process of: each pitch, pass the baton, valuing every single pitch. And mentally, it’s not easy, but we can do it. We’ve done it many times over before.”

The outcomes just haven’t been there for the Dodgers.

As they head to Colorado for a three-game series against the last-place Rockies, the Dodgers aren’t anticipating any breaks.

“Honestly, I think every team’s hungry because they’re chasing us,” Roberts said. “They’re trying to make a name for themselves or trying to play spoiler, whatever it is. But every team we play is going to bring their best. The guys we are going to play the next three games, they’re gonna bring their best, I promise you that.”

If there may be a silver lining, it’s that Skubal appears to be acclimating just effective in L.A. — even if the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner hasn’t had his best recreation since becoming a member of the Dodgers.

“I just got to be more consistent,” Skubal said of his first three begins with the Dodgers. “Continue to get quality contact on the ground, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck … But the stuff on my hand is as good as it’s ever been. And honestly, my execution today was pretty good too.

“There’s always room for improvement … but [in] the same breath, you can’t beat yourself up too much. I’m not going to be perfect out there. But yeah, I need to be more efficient. That’s the standard that I hold myself to: pitching deeper into ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”

Injury updates

The Dodgers positioned left-handed starter Justin Wrobleski on the 15-day injured record with left forearm inflammation and recalled right-handed reliever Kyle Hurt from triple-A Oklahoma City. Wrobleski, who has pitched a career-high 126⅓ innings this season, surrendered 4 runs and 4 hits in a loss against the Brewers on Saturday.

“We just felt collectively that Justin was the right person [to] back off the fatigue of the arm,” Roberts said. “It’s not something that he’s ever going to make an excuse for. But I do think that it’s smart for us, as an organization, to take that load off a little bit from him.”

Wrobleski has struggled just lately, giving up 11 home runs over his past 4 begins.

Stewart, who was positioned on the 15-day IL with proper shoulder discomfort on July 31, said he’ll be a part of the Dodgers on their upcoming street journey to Colorado and is hopeful he’ll be activated soon.