Sixteen months ago, Yu Darvish made it back from elbow ligament-replacement surgery, his velocity unharmed but his breaking balls altered. This month, as he took a 10-day break on the Dodgers’ ever-crowded disabled list, the right-hander and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt sought to recapture his old form in a series of bullpen sessions.

“My sliders and all my off-speed pitches, they looked different,” Darvish said through interpreter Hideaki Sato. “So, now I’m trying to get back to my slider from before, trying to throw it with a little more sideways rotation.”

In his return Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the shape of his slider changed, but his lackluster results of recent times did not. As the Dodgers lost back-to-back games for the first time in five weeks and a series for the first time in nearly three months, Darvish lasted only five innings and surrendered three runs.

The Dodgers operated without a hit on their ledger for most of the 3-2 defeat to Milwaukee. They managed only nine hits and two runs between Saturday and Sunday, their offense cementing its status as firmly in a fallow stretch for the first time in a long time.


Already winners of 91 games in 139 tries, the outcomes of the Dodgers’ remaining regular-season games are of little import. But a few players’ performances will be closely monitored to gauge their postseason readiness as October nears, maybe none more than Darvish, the prized trade-deadline acquisition who has not yet formed an extended commanding stretch this season.

In his first start as a Dodger, he showcased his tremendous talent, brandishing his varied arsenal to great success against the New York Mets. In his next three, including Sunday, he has struggled to simply command his fastball.

“He’s been off for 10 days,” catcher Yasmani Grandal said. “It’s one of these things you were going to expect.”

Darvish expressed confidence in the changes. He said he will need time to get them functioning fully. On Sunday, he needed 95 pitches to finish five innings. He faced 22 hitters, struck out seven of them and walked three. To begin, he walked Eric Sogard, and set down Hernan Perez on strikes. After Neil Walker blooped a single into left, Travis Shaw tapped a ball to shortstop, where Corey Seager reacted late and let it creep between his legs. A run scored.


Darvish struck out the side after a leadoff single in the second, but his fastball remained unwieldy. That troubled him in the third. With one out, he left a fastball up to Perez, who hit it out for a solo shot to center field. Darvish then walked Walker and permitted a double to Shaw. When Santana singled up the middle, both men tried to score. Only Walker did successfully.

Pedro Baez replaced Darvish for the sixth and became one of four relievers to throw a scoreless inning.

The Brewers started Jimmy Nelson, a burly, drenched right-hander sporting “Big Sweat” on the back of his jersey for Players Weekend. He dominated the Dodgers in June, and on Sunday he held them hitless until the sixth, when pinch-hitter Chase Utley ripped a one-out single into center.

Utley took second when Chris Taylor grounded out. Seager soon smashed the second pitch he saw into center field. There, Keon Broxton overran it, allowing Utley to score easily and Seager to take second.


Justin Turner next skied a ball into right field. A half-second before it was to touch down, it became clear that Brewers right fielder Domingo Santana had not located the ball. As it touched the grass, Santana had taken to protecting himself. So it went as a run-scoring double.

With a man on and no out two innings later, a similar ball headed toward Santana. The crowd oohed, but with sunglasses over his eyes, he made the catch.

There were other chances. Pinch-hitter Austin Barnes notched a one-out single in the seventh, but Sogard stole an up-the-middle single from Yasiel Puig. In the ninth, the Dodgers amassed two baserunners for pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer, he of the walk-off hit in his major league debut last month. He battled to eight pitches against Milwaukee closer Corey Knebel until a 98-mph fastball proved too much.

So the Dodgers went home to rest, 17 games in 16 days looming after Monday’s off day. The last time their offense was this unproductive was April. Cody Bellinger emerged to spark them then, and on Wednesday he will return.


“You look at our club offensively, we’re a little cold right now,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s all happening at once. We’ll get through it.”

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Follow Pedro Moura on Twitter @pedromoura