West Coast road trip is starting off like a trip from hell for the Milwaukee Brewers. Los Angeles Angels swept the Brew Crew in three games after beating them, 4-2, last night at the Big A as Matt Lepay consistently called it. Brewers sink to 8-5 after their hot 8-2 start to the season. They ran into a bit of a buzzsaw with Los Angeles. They started the year out 1-6 then battled back for three straight wins versus Texas then another three against Milwaukee. The team will have to figure out a way to salvage this road trip as they head down the coast to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers.

Player of the Game: Justin Bour – A good friend of Christian Yelich and a thorn in the side of the Brewers. He seems to always do very well against the Crew. I’m not ready to call him a Brewers killer because he doesn’t play enough games versus them, but man, he is a beast against the Crew. Bour had a huge two-run single in the third inning which helps open up the lead. Bour had a good series with four RBIs, one home run and four runs scored.

Honorable Mention: Brandon Woodruff – One inning. One inning where Brandon Woodruff did not look on his game. If that inning doesn’t happen, he is the talk of this article likely. Instead, he is a footnote on the game. Woofdruff pitched six strong innings giving up only those four runs, walking one and striking out seven batters. He was really tough minus that one inning. Hopefully, Woody takes it as a bright spot.

Thing I liked: Bullpen pitched a clean game – After some struggles in the bullpen in the last two days, the pen looked good on Wednesday night. They pitched three scoreless innings without needing Josh Hader for the third straight game. Junior Guerra, Jacob Barnes and Alex Claudio did good work out there. Guerra struck out two batters in his only inning. He needs to be more of a part of the bullpen.

Thing I didn’t like: No offense to speak of – Brewers need to produce more than two runs against a combination of Felix Pena and Jamie Barria. Those are guys you need to take advantage of and Milwaukee didn’t do it. They left six guys in scoring position. The lineup did get screwed up with Travis Shaw leaving the game with a bruised hand after getting hit by a pitch.

Next up: Brewers head to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers… Gulp. Now, this Dodgers team was red hot like the Brewers before heading to St. Louis, and they’re playing the Cardinals again on Thursday to avoid getting swept. Therefore, Brewers-Dodgers are birds of a similar feather at this point. Friday’s pitching matchup is a ton of fun with Corbin Burnes taking on Julio Urias. That should be a blast tomorrow evening.

Charlie.