Austin Barnes hit a home run in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie and the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a 1-0 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday to extend their winning streak to a season-best 11 games.
Barnes had two of the Dodgers' four hits, with one of them his first home run of the season. Barnes, a steady defensive backup catcher, entered the game with a .123 batting average and a .345 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. It was also his first multi-hit game of the season.
After seven scoreless innings from Lance Lynn, Dodgers left-hander Caleb Ferguson (7-3) pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Evan Phillips pitched the ninth inning to earn his 18th save.
Brewers starter Corbin Burnes gave up two hits over seven scoreless innings while walking two and striking out nine. As good as the outing was, it could not prevent Milwaukee from getting swept in the three-game series.
Tyrone Taylor had two of the five hits produced by the Brewers, who saw their National League Central lead fall to two games over both the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds.
Lynn allowed four hits and one walk while fanning three. It was his fourth consecutive winning start since joining the Dodgers at the trade deadline, delivering a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings with his new club. He had a 6.47 ERA in 21 starts with the Chicago White Sox before he was dealt.
The Brewers nearly broke through in the sixth inning against Lynn, putting runners on the corners with no outs after singles from Taylor and Christian Yelich. However, Taylor was cut down trying to score on a comebacker by William Contreras, and Lynn retired Carlos Santana on a lineout and Sal Frelick on a popup to end the threat.
Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the first inning with a single for the Dodgers, but Los Angeles subsequently got just a Barnes single in the third inning until the catcher hit his go-ahead home run in the eighth against Brewers right-hander Joel Payamps (4-3).
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