LOS ANGELES -- Coming off a stretch in which they had lost eight of nine, the Dodgers returned to L.A. in sore need of a get-right series. They got it, sweeping the Royals in three games at Dodger Stadium.
Wednesday night's 4-2 win was the most convincing of L.A.'s trio of victories against Kansas City. The Dodgers got home runs from Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Hunter Feduccia to back 6 1/3 solid innings from starting pitcher Eric Lauer. Unlike the first two games of the series, no late-inning magic was necessary, and Landon Knack saved the bullpen by covering the final 2 2/3 innings.
"Just a great sweep when we needed it," said Freddie Freeman, who was sore but in good spirits after exiting following a scary tumble into the visitors' dugout in the eighth inning.
The Dodgers' third straight win allowed them to remain tied with the Braves for the second-best record in the National League (73-48), one game behind the league-leading Brewers (74-47). L.A. is in position to vie for a first-round bye in the postseason, but the team had been sitting atop the NL before its tough 1-8 stretch, which included a season-high seven-game skid.
There is plenty of time for movement in the standings in the final month and a half of the regular season, but this weekend, the Dodgers will have the valuable opportunity to directly take on one team in front of them: the Brewers, who are coming to Dodger Stadium for a four-game set.
"They've been a very good team all year, one of the better teams in baseball," manager Dave Roberts said. "It's a fundamentally sound team, they defend, they're pesky at the plate, they're athletic, they're young, they're hungry, they prevent runs. So it's going to be a really good test for us."
The Brewers are coming to Chavez Ravine fresh off being swept in three games by the surging Padres, but they have again proven themselves to be a force over the course of the season. The Dodgers took two of three from them at American Family Field in May, and with at least a split in the upcoming four-game set, they would win the season series.
That could prove to be important later on. If the Dodgers and Brewers happen to finish the regular season with the same record, their head-to-head record would be the first tiebreaker to determine postseason seeding.
Even without those potential implications for down the road, this series could be a big test for the Dodgers. They got right against the Royals, who are 24 games below .500. They can prove that they're out of the rut they were in for the past several weeks by playing better against a successful Brewers team.
While the Dodgers swept the Royals, they still didn't quite play up to their standard in all three games. The bullpen lost late leads on Monday and Tuesday. The offense did enough, but could have been better. There was still some lingering sloppiness on the basepaths and in the field.
"I see the determination of fighting to take better at-bats," Roberts said. "I think that now it's, obviously, anyone can see it, we're giving up outs on the bases, we're not converting like we need to. … I like the effort, but we still have a long way to go to really get better."
As big of an opportunity as this matchup represents, the Dodgers are also not making it bigger than it is. They recognize what a strong showing against a Brewers ballclub returning to Dodger Stadium for the first time since being eliminated in last year's NL Championship Series could mean. But at the same time, they know they can't get too high or too low during the dog days of summer.
"It’s still a series in August," Betts said. "Of course we’ve got to come in with intensity just like any other time. But we don’t want to put too much pressure or anything extra on it right now."