MILWAUKEE – Brewers manager Pat Murphy might have done well before the series by declaring his team a decided underdog in this NLCS.
It’s not like Goliath – the defending World Series champions – is crushing the ball all over the place, but the depth and dominance of the Dodgers rotation provides brutal resistance.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw an all-game gem on Tuesday night, leading a 5-1 win over the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS at American Family Field, and yet it was only the second-best Dodgers pitching performance of this NLCS.
Yamamoto’s masterpiece (one earned run allowed on three hits in nine innings with seven strikeouts and one walk) followed Blake Snell’s brilliance a night earlier, when the southpaw faced a minimum of 24 batters over eight frames and struck out 10.
“We’ve been the best in baseball not chasing [pitches]Murphy said. “These pitchers brought out the worst in us.”
Yamamoto’s complete game was the first in the postseason since Justin Verlander went nine innings for the Astros in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS.
“I set my rhythm and then dictated the pace based on the match,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
The Dodgers paid out $507 million in guaranteed money for the two aces and are getting their money’s worth down to the last cent. Yamamoto, who signed the largest free agent contract ever for a pitcher before the 2024 season — $325 million over 12 years — has a 1.83 ERA in three starts this postseason.
“I see real confidence,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The series, with the Dodgers leading 2-0, resumes Thursday with Game 3 in Los Angeles. The Dodgers will send Tyler Glasnow to the mound and the Brewers will likely counter with ace Jacob Misiorowski, who last pitched on Saturday in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Cubs.
If the Dodgers don’t have enough of an advantage coming home, they also have a rested bullpen that was needed for just one inning total in the first two games of this series.
Jackson Chourio’s blast on Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game gave the Brewers their first lead of the series. Chourio’s leadoff homer was the second of his career in the postseason – he delivered one against the Mets in Game 2 of the NL wild-card series last year.
“I regret that home run,” Yamamoto said. “But I reset my mind and after that I just focused on executing my own pitches.”
Teoscar Hernández’s home run in the second inning produced the first Dodgers run. It was the fourth homer this postseason for Hernández, who was among the players who shined offensively during the team’s World Series title run last year.
Before the inning ended, Andy Pages hit an RBI double that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
Max Muncy, who missed a grand slam by inches the previous night — the ball hit the center-field fence after Sal Frelick’s glove and turned into an inning-ending double play because of baserunning miscues — got the extra length he needed in the sixth.
His shot to center just eluded Frelick’s leap for a solo home run against Freddy Peralta that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1.
Peralta pitched 5 ²/₃ innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and one walk. It was removed in 97 places.
Shohei Ohtani, who entered this postseason batting just .138, delivered an RBI single in the seventh that gave the Dodgers a three-run cushion. Enrique Hernández’s double started the rally.
Tommy Edman’s RBI single in the eighth gave the Dodgers a 5-1 lead.
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