Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani lift Dodgers past Brewers 5-3

Los Angeles Dodgers #16 Will Smith (C) two-run home in the bottom of the first inning. Photo by Mark Hammond/BNS.

LOS ANGELES, CA - The Los Angeles Dodgers (55-35), with two home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, beat the Milwaukee Brewers (52-38) at Dodgers Stadium 5-3.

James Paxton (LHP,7-2) got the start for the Dodgers, went 5.0 innings, and gave up four hits, two runs, one home run, and three strikeouts.

The Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta (RHP, 6-4) went 4.0 innings while giving up four hits, three runs, one home run, and four strikeouts.

Milwaukee would score first to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Willy Adames hit a single to left field and William Contreras scored.

Freddy Peralta, the starting pitcher for Milwaukee, walked Shohei Ohtani to begin the bottom of the first inning, and Will Smith, who had three home runs against the Brewers last night, ripped a home run over the right-center field wall to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead.

"I've always been a guy that tries to stick to my approach, whatever it is in that moment," Smith said. "Stick to it, and hopefully, good things happen. They don't always happen, but yeah, I was able to get us two runs."

Smith, on Friday Night with three home runs, became the fourth catcher in Dodgers history to accomplish the feat along with Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza, and Yasmani Grandal.

"He's just so consistent, and he just doesn't get the recognition that he deserves of being one of the top two catchers in the game," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Los Angeles Dodgers #17 Shohei Ohtani (DH) solo- home in the bottom of the eighth inning, his 28th to lead the National League. Photo by Mark Hammond/BNS

The Dodgers had runners on first and third base with nobody out, and Andy Pages broke his bat to get on first base on a fielder choice, and Freddie Freeman came home to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead to end the inning.

Milwaukee would score another run in the top of the fourth inning to trail 3-2 when Rhys Hoskins hit a solo home run over the left-field wall.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Los Angeles had runners on first and second base with no one out. Ohtani, with a good eye, held up on a pitch to walk to load the bases for Will Smith. Peralta got out of the jam with some timely pitching to keep the Dodgers from scoring more runs.

The Brewers would tie the game 3-3 in the top of the eighth inning with a solo home run by Christian Yelich over the center-field wall.

The Dodgers would score two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning after Miguel Vargas pinched-hit, smashed a solo home run over the left-center field wall, and Shohei Ohtani homered his 28th to lead the National League over the center-field fence, making the final score 5-3 to take the second game of the series.