Austin Barnes home run wins pitching duel between Lance Lynn and Corbin Burnes

Lance Lynn and Corbin Burnes were both fantastic on the mound, each throwing seven scoreless innings. Then Austin Barnes provided all the offense with his first home run of the season to beat the Brewers 1-0 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, securing the Dodgers’ 11th straight win.

Barnes home run came against Joel Payamps with one out in the eighth inning.

“Austin Barnes. AUSTIN BARNES. Dodgers lead 1-0,” said Joe Davis on the call.

It’s no secret that it’s been a brutal year for Barnes at the plate, who is hitting .136/.216/.176 on the season after the home run. His 12 wRC+ ranks 409th among the 412 major league hitters with at least 100 plate appearances this season.

But on Thursday, Barnes was the Dodgers offense. He also singled, for his first multi-hit game of the season.

Thursday was the first time the Dodgers won 1-0 on a solo home run since July 24, 2021. The home run on that day, against the Rockies, was also hit by Barnes.

Burnes struck out nine and induced 17 swinging strikes, the more dominant of the starting pitchers on Thursday. But Lynn was effective just the same, matching zeroes for seven innings, with four strikeouts and seven swinging strikes.

Both teams backed their pitchers with solid defense throughout.

James Outman tracked down a drive by Andruw Monasterio to the warning track in center field in the third inning, preventing a run from scoring.

Mookie Betts started a nice double play on a Christian Yelich ground ball to end the third inning, then in the sixth Yelich made a diving catch in left field to rob Betts of a double.

Milwaukee had runners on first and third with nobody out in the sixth. But on a ground ball back to Lynn, Tyrone Taylor broke for home and was quickly thrown out after a brief rundown. Carlos Santana followed by blistering a ball 107.1 mph off the bat, only it was right into the glove of Freddie Freeman at first base.

Lynn has pitched seven innings twice in his four starts since joining the Dodgers, joining Clayton Kershaw (six times) and Julio Urías (three times) as the only pitchers with multiple seven-inning affairs. No Dodgers starting pitcher has pitched into the eighth inning yet this season.

The burly right-hander has allowed only five runs in his four starts with Los Angeles, including just two runs (one earned) in the last three starts, for a 1.44 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 25 innings, against only five walks. All four earned runs against the Dodgers version of Lynn came on solo home runs, but he’s kept opponents in the park his last two times out.

Dodgers pitchers allowed 3 runs on 10 hits in sweeping the Brewers. They’ve allowed nine runs in their last eight games.

Thursday particulars

Home run: Austin Barnes (1)

WP — Caleb Ferguson (7-3): 1 IP, 1 hit

LP — Joel Payamps (4-3): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 strikeout

Sv — Evan Phillips (18): 1 IP, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Marlins come to town for a weekend series beginning Friday night (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA). Tony Gonsolin starts against Sandy Alcantara in a “Where did 2022 go?” battle on the mound.