MILWAUKEE -- It began brilliantly, then took a turn for the worse. In that way, Wednesday afternoon’s 8-1 loss to the Dodgers was a microcosm of the first six weeks of the Brewers’ season.

Wade Miley went 10 up, 10 down to begin his showdown with Clayton Kershaw before the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs on the way to roughing up Miley and beating the Brewers at American Family Field.

The loss continued a steady slide for the Brewers, who have lost five of their last six series after winning five of the first six. They were 14-5 after the first three weeks of the regular season. Three weeks later, they are 20-17.

“We’re going to get hot again, and it’s going to be fun again,” Miley said. “We just need to relax.”

Said Brewers manager Craig Counsell: “This is the baseball season. We’re not scoring runs the way we need to score runs. We’re not pitching ideally. That’s how a season goes. We have an off-day here, and we’ll show up Friday and try to start a good streak.”

Kershaw had a lot to do with cooling the Brewers down in the series rubber game, allowing his lone run on William Contreras' fourth-inning homer -- at 1.31 feet away from the center of the plate, it was the furthest-inside pitch hit for a home run in MLB this season, according to Statcast – while delivering seven innings on 92 pitches. Kershaw’s outing came on a day the Dodgers really needed length. The night before, starter Noah Syndergaard departed after one inning with a cut on his finger and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used seven relievers to cover the final eight innings.

But the Dodgers’ bullpen was almost entirely able to take the finale off because Kershaw cruised, holding the Brewers to five hits and no walks with eight strikeouts and 18 swings and misses. He’s 5-2 with a 1.98 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) in Milwaukee during his career, including postseason appearances.

“He’s dialed in every time he goes out there,” said Brewers infielder Mike Brosseau, who tallied Milwaukee’s first hit. “You know it’s going to be a grind.”

“He’s probably the best lefty we’ve seen in this game, probably since dadgum [Sandy] Koufax,” Miley said. “He’s had an unbelievable career. I’ve been a huge fan of him. Learned from him, watched the way he goes about it. It sucks to be on the losing end.”

Miley was knocked around during the middle innings by a Dodgers lineup that entered the day hitting .197 against left-handed pitching. For the first three innings of the Miley-Kershaw matchup, it was advantage, Miley. He retired the first nine Dodgers he faced on 41 pitches with three strikeouts and nothing even close to a hit.

But after Mookie Betts grounded out to open the fourth, the Dodgers started hitting. Freddie Freeman and Will Smith each hit solo home runs in a span of three pitches, and the Dodgers tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning after Miley issued a pair of walks to the bottom of L.A.’s batting order. Los Angeles added four more in the sixth off Miley and Milwaukee reliever Colin Rea.

Miley was charged with seven runs on six hits in five-plus innings. He surrendered three home runs, exceeding what he had allowed in his first six starts combined. The seven runs exceeded what he’d allowed in his last four outings.

Miley finished the month of April with a 1.86 ERA, but it’s up to 3.60 after his first two starts of May.

“You have to execute,” Miley said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t execute pitches out of the stretch. Out of the windup, everything was good. Even the two solo homers, you live with those. After that, I got in the stretch and it was poorly executed pitches, and obviously the results weren’t there.”

His two walks played an outsized role. After Miguel Rojas singled, stole second and took third on Contreras’ throwing error, Miley walked No. 8 hitter Trayce Thompson and No. 9 hitter Austin Barnes to load the bases for the top of the order.

When Betts popped out, Miley had a path to escape. But after Freeman lined a changeup to right-center field for a two-run single, the Dodgers were on their way to a rout.

“This is start seven. He’s had six good starts,” Counsell said. “This one, he made some pitches he didn’t want to make. But he’s thrown six really good ones.”