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Dodgers rally late to defeat the Brewers, 3-2

Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson, breaking up Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson's no-hitter in the sixth inning, drove in the winning run with a double in the seventh inning Friday night.

Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson, breaking up Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson’s no-hitter in the sixth inning, drove in the winning run with a double in the seventh inning Friday night.

(Kevork Djansezian / , Getty Images)
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Key moment: With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson cruising along, Alex Guerrero sent what should have been a routine grounder to third base. Aramis Ramirez fielded the ball poorly, flubbed the transfer, and Guerrero was aboard. Jimmy Rollins, Andre Ethier and Joc Pederson then collected hits to put the Dodgers up for good, 3-2.

On the mound: Dodgers starter Mike Bolsinger broke a string of five starts of fewer than six innings, and looked sharp, striking out six batters on 83 pitches in six innings. He ran into trouble with two wild pitches in the top of the fifth — the first two of his career — and both were key to the Brewers’ taking a 2-0 lead. The bullpen, which had little to do in the last two games with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke pitching, put together three scoreless innings, with recent call-up Chin-hui Tsao getting the win and Kenley Jansen his 15th save.

At the plate: It took two rounds through the lineup before the Dodgers began to figure out Nelson, and even then they benefited from two Brewers errors. Most of the offensive production came from the ends of the lineup, as the 3-7 hitters went a combined 0 for 15. Ethier got his first pinch-hit RBIs of the year and his first multi-RBI game in more than a month. Pederson struck out his first two times up, but then he singled in the sixth and doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh. All three runs were unearned.

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Extra bases: The win was Tsao’s fifth in his career and first in more than a decade. He left MLB in 2008 to pitch in Taiwan and had been caught up in a match-fixing scandal before being cleared by the league to return. … Pederson had been batting .074 (two for 27) with one RBI in July before Friday’s game. … The win was the Dodgers’ 23rd comeback victory this season, and improves their mark in one-run games to 13-15. The Brewers had their seven-game road winning streak snapped.

Up next: Brandon Beachy makes his season debut for the Dodgers at 7 p.m. at Dodger Stadium after missing 23 months because of Tommy John surgery. The Brewers counter with Taylor Jungmann (3-1, 2.43 ERA). TV: SNLA; Radio: 570, 1020.

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