LOS ANGELES — Logan Henderson was grateful the Brewers didn’t deal him away.

Two weeks later, the Brewers are grateful, too.

In a matchup against the ace left-hander the Brewers tried in vain to acquire at the Trade Deadline — perhaps because they refused to part with Henderson in a deal — the 24-year-old Texan delivered a career-high seven innings while outpitching Tarik Skubal in Milwaukee’s 6-2 win at Dodger Stadium.

The Brewers didn’t just win the narrative, they won the series in a rematch of last year’s lopsided National League Championship Series, 3-1. Most critically, they also won the season series between the teams, 4-3.

“Whatever happens in October is whatever happens, but I think the anticipation is we’re going to have to get through these guys,” first baseman Jake Bauers said.

“We can play with them, and if we execute, we can beat them.”

It was Bauers who urged his teammates to “chill the (heck) out a little bit” after getting swept in San Diego to begin this road trip.

And it was Bauer’s leading the way against the Dodgers, going 6-for-13 with five walks in the series, starting with the go-ahead single in Thursday’s ninth-inning comeback and finishing with a career-high-tying four hits and a pair of RBIs on Sunday as the Brewers climbed back to the best record in the Majors at 77-48.

It capped a stretch in which the Brewers went 10-7 over 17 games in 17 days and emerged five games ahead of the Cubs in the National League (NL) Central and 2 1/2 games clear of the next-closest team (the Braves) in the overall NL standings. The Brewers were 5 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs going into the 17-game gauntlet, and 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the overall NL standings.