Daniel Hudson falters as Dodgers fall to Brewers for second straight

Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia was able to plug a seventh-inning leak Thursday, escaping a two-on-no-out jam to preserve a one-run lead, but the dam broke against right-hander Daniel Hudson, who allowed three runs in the eighth inning of a 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.

Hudson entered with a 4-3 lead and allowed the Brewers to load the bases with no outs on Jackson Chourio’s double, Garrett Mitchell’s walk and William Contreras’ infield single. Willy Adames lined an RBI single to left field to tie the score at 4-4.

Third baseman Kiké Hernández made a nice diving stop on Tyler Black’s grounder to his left, but his only play was at first base, and Mitchell scored for a 5-4 lead. Rhys Hoskins followed with a grounder that bounced off Hudson’s body to shortstop Miguel Rojas, who got the out at first as Contreras scored for a 6-4 lead.

Milwaukee closer Devin Williams struck out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani in a one-two-three ninth inning to send the Dodgers to their second straight loss and cut their lead in the National League West to two games over the idle San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty rallied from a three-run first inning to blank the Brewers over the next four innings, and the Dodgers took a 4-3 lead on Hernandez’s two-out RBI single in the sixth.

Reliever Michael Kopech retired the heart of the Brewers’ order on a strikeout in the bottom of the sixth, extending his scoreless streak since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox on July 29 to 7 ⅓ innings.

Vesia sought trouble in the seventh when he walked pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez and Hoskins to lead off the inning, but escaped the jam with help from the Brewers and home-plate umpire John Bacon.

Sal Frelick busted out the old Butcher Boy play, got into bunt position and pulled back to swing at Vesia’s first pitch, producing a weak fly out to second. Bacon then called a 1-count 3-and-in pitch and 3-1 strikes to Joey Ortiz, who flied out to right field. Vesia struck out Brice Turang on a 94 mph fastball on a full count to end the inning.

There were so many fireworks exploding on the field and under the closed roof in the bottom of the first inning that it took two solid innings for the smoke to clear.

Turang led off the inning with a double to left field and Chourio followed with a two-run homer that traveled 421 feet to left-center field. After nine pitches in his third start with the Dodgers, Flaherty was already down 2-0.

Mitchell struck out on a 77 mph curveball, but cleanup man Contreras hit Flaherty’s full-count slider 417 feet to left field for his 16th homer of the season and a 3-0 Milwaukee lead.

The Dodgers took advantage of sloppy defense to score two unearned runs in the second, Adames turning Rojas’ grounder into a double play that potentially would have ended the inning in a second-and-third, one-out situation when his throw to second went into right field and was an error.

Jason Heyward drove in a run with a groundout to second, and Andy Pages cut the deficit to 3-2 with an RBI double over the head of Chourio, who leaped and put the tip of his glove on the ball before crashing into the wall.

Back-to-back two-out singles by Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Gavin Lux off Brewers starter Tobias Myers in the top of the third inning tied the Dodgers at 3-3.

Flaherty bounced back from a rough first inning by retiring 12 of the next 13 batters after Contreras’ homer. It wasn’t until the fifth that he ran into trouble, when he walked Ortiz with two outs and allowed a single to Turang that put runners on first and third. But Flaherty struck out Chourio on a 79 mph curveball to end the inning.

Lux started the Dodgers’ comeback in the sixth inning with a leadoff walk and reached second on Rojas’ single to right. Heyward flied out to right, advancing Lux to third. Pages lined a run to third for the second out.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy brought in right-hander Elvis Peguero to face Hernandez, who lined an opposite-field single to right to score Lux for a 4-3 lead.