MILWAUKEE â€" Although the Milwaukee Brewers couldn’t finish off a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Ron Roenicke was happy to see them play a close game without the offense at its best.
Matt Kemp hit his seventh home run of the season and the Dodgers avoided a three-game sweep with a 4-3 victory over the Brewers on Thursday.
"We’re not getting some hits," Roenicke said. "Obviously, I would like us to get more, especially when we have guys in scoring position but we’re still not swinging the bat as good as I know we can. We’re getting good pitching. We’re playing good defense. But three really nice ballgames."
Ryan Braun was zero-for-11 in the series, striking out in his final two at-bats Thursday.
Brewers starter Randy Wolf noted that he and some of his teammates were under the weather as a flu-like bug seemed to be making its way around the clubhouse.
"It’s one of those things we all have to deal with," Wolf said. "You go out there and you throw. Strength-wise, I didn’t feel too bad."
Braun apparently wasn’t feeling 100 percent, either.
"Braunie, we’ll get him going soon," Roenicke said. "He’s been playing a bit under the weather."
Travis Ishikawa had a double, a single and two RBI for Milwaukee.
"We don’t do much if we don’t have him in the lineup," Roenicke said.
Andre Ethier and Juan Rivera added RBI singles while Jerry Hairston Jr. made two big late-inning defensive plays for the Dodgers, who lost the first two games of the series on late-game fireworks by the Brewers.
Javy Guerra pitched a scoreless ninth, his sixth save in seven opportunities this season.
The Brewers have never swept a series of any length from the Dodgers.
With the Dodgers leading 4-3 in the eighth, Hairston made a critical defensive play at third base with a runner on third and two outs. Hairston dove to field a sharp ground ball by Alex Gonzalez, then made a long throw to first from an awkward angle to end the inning.
Brewers pinch runner Carlos Gomez had advanced to third on a stolen base and a throwing error by catcher Matt Treanor.
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Hairston made another impressive play in the ninth, charging a bunt and throwing out Ishikawa.
Wolf (0-2) went six innings, giving up four runs and seven hits with a walk, a strikeout, a hit batsman and the home run to Kemp. Wolf also helped out with his bat, hitting a sacrifice fly.
Dodgers starter Aaron Harang (1-1) also went six innings, giving up three runs and eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Ethier hit a one-out double, Hairston was hit by a pitch and James Loney walked to load the bases. Ethier scored on a sacrifice fly by Treanor, but the inning ended when Harang hit into a forceout at second base.
Milwaukee answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, starting with a pair of singles by George Kottaras and Gonzalez to set up Ishikawa’s RBI double. Gonzalez then scored on a sacrifice fly by Wolf.
Los Angeles retook the lead in the third when Wolf allowed four straight singles, including RBIs by Ethier and Juan Rivera, and extended the lead to 4-2 with Kemp’s solo home run to lead off the fifth.
The Brewers cut the lead to 4-3 on an RBI single by Ishikawa in the sixth.
The Dodgers threatened again in the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Kottaras caught Hairston off the bag at third and threw him out, and Treanor struck out to end the inning.
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