Michael Lorenzen pulled in fifth against Cardinals

The Brewers take three out of four in L.A. Bauers had three previous four-hit games in his career, but they all came in 2018 or ’19. Today’s pushed him up to .275/.384/.500 on the season. That .884 OPS is 212 points better than his career mark of .672.

The Brewers probably could have had Tarik Skubal if they were willing to send Henderson to Detroit, but the right-hander again demonstrated today why that would have been a bad idea. It might not be totally correct to say Henderson outdueled Skubal today — one got good defensive support and one didn’t — but he did come away with the win in the matchup. Henderson still hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his 12 starts this year. He’ll take a 7-2 record and a 2.70 ERA into his next start versus the Braves.

Skubal gave up seven hits and nine hard-hit balls, but he struck out seven and was let down by his defense a couple of times in the game. He’s now 0-2 for the Dodgers, even though he has a 3.18 ERA in his three starts. He’ll face the Pirates next weekend.

The second double should have been an out at Miller Park, as it went off Kyle Tucker’s glove at the wall in right. However, it also would have been a homer in 23 ballparks, according to Statcast. Chourio snapped out of a little 2-for-19 skid today. It’s the third time this year that he’s scored three runs in a game.

With the Dodgers down 4-1 in the ninth, Tucker struggled with the sun on Jackson Chourio’s fly to deep right and had it go off his glove. Probably because of the sun issues, it wasn’t ruled an error, and given the score, it wasn’t particularly costly. Still, it was another brutal game for Tucker, who finished the week 0-for-19. Maybe he’ll get it together in Coors over the next three days.

Bachar allowed two hits and one walk while filling in for Paul Skenes, who was pushed back to Wednesday. This was Bachar’s fifth start of the season, with the other four coming as a bulk opener for the Marlins before he was dealt ahead of the deadline.

Montgomery needed just 11 pitches to retire the side, striking out two. He now has 41 strikeouts in his last 19 2/3 innings, a stretch in which he has allowed four earned runs. Pittsburgh made several notable bullpen additions at the trade deadline, but the club hasn’t had many save opportunities lately. Montgomery has three of the team’s five saves in the second half, including each of the past two. His strikeout potential gives him the highest fantasy upside if the Pirates hand him the majority of ninth-inning chances.

Sandoval struck out six and walked three as his ERA ballooned to 4.76. This was only his seventh start since returning from a multi-year absence due to elbow surgery. It was also the second straight in which his velocity was down. Brayan Bello has thrown well out of the bullpen lately, which could put pressure on Sandoval to pitch well enough to stick in the rotation. His next start lines up at home against the Giants.

Reynolds got the scoring started in the first inning, driving in Esmerlyn Valdez with a double before coming around to score on a Brandon Lowe hit. The Pirates went on to total nine hits against Boston starter Patrick Sandoval and took the series after dropping their previous seven. The 31-year-old has had a strong campaign, but he’s scuffled a bit in the second half. A big series against the Red Sox has helped get his numbers back on track.

Valdez doubled in the first inning and came around to score when Bryan Reynolds followed with a double of his own. He doubled again in the third, this time scoring on a Brandon Lowe groundout. The 22-year-old was off to an electric start in his big league career, but he has slumped in August with a strikeout rate pushing 40%. The slump coincides with a stretch in which the entire Pittsburgh lineup has struggled to produce. Valdez will ultimately be a streaky hitter with big power and big swing-and-miss.