Milwaukee’s bullpen delivers as the Brewers beat the Dodgers 2-1 in NLCS opener

MILWAUKEE — Brice Turang homered off Tarik Skubal and Milwaukee’s bullpen shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers after Jacob Misiorowski’s taxing outing, sending the Brewers to a 2-1 victory in the NL Championship Series opener on Sunday night.

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Luis Lara hit a tiebreaking single off Skubal in the fifth inning as Milwaukee took Game 1 in the first NLCS matchup of 100-win teams since the Cincinnati Reds eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. The Brewers had dropped seven consecutive postseason games against the Dodgers, including a sweep in last year’s NLCS.

Game 2 is on Monday in Milwaukee. Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts for the Dodgers, and Logan Henderson takes the mound for the Brewers.

Los Angeles, looking to become the first team to win three straight championships since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees, grounded into three double plays, stranded nine runners and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 2 for 22 in the playoffs.

The Dodgers chased Misiorowski, the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, in the fifth inning, but they managed just two hits against four relievers.

DL Hall replaced Misiorowski with a runner aboard and got Freddie Freeman to ground into a double play, sending a charge through the rollicking crowd of 42,617. Abner Uribe allowed two hits in the sixth, then struck out Andy Pages with runners on the corners for the final out of the inning.

Aaron Ashby pitched two innings before Trevor Megill got three outs for the save. Kyle Tucker and pinch hitter Josue De Paula walked with two down in the ninth before Mookie Betts flied to the center-field warning track.

The Brewers are among five current teams that have never won it all.

The Dodgers made Misiorowski throw 35 pitches in the second inning. Pages drove in Shohei Ohtani on a grounded single into right field, and Tucker loaded the bases when he reached on a 10-pitch walk that included four foul balls.

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But Misiorowski limited the damage when he got Kiké Hernández to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

Turang responded with a leadoff drive into the home bullpen in the fourth. It was the second career postseason homer for Turang, who went 1 for 15 with six strikeouts in last year’s NLCS.

Sticking with the same brand of baseball that resulted in the majors’ best record this year, Milwaukee went ahead to stay in the fifth.

Garrett Mitchell reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on rookie Cooper Pratt’s sacrifice bunt. Lara, another rookie, then grounded an RBI single into center field. The Brewers loaded the bases with two down, but Skubal escaped the jam when William Contreras flied to right.

Up next

Yamamoto is 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 postseason appearances. The Japanese right-hander pitched a three-hitter in a 5-1 victory at Milwaukee in Game 2 of last year’s NLCS.

Henderson is making his second career postseason start. The right-hander tossed five-plus innings of two-run ball in Milwaukee’s 4-3 win over San Diego in Game 2 of their NL Division Series. He went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts against Los Angeles this season.

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