On Sunday night, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, a rematch a year in the making.
The moment that decided it
Rookie Luis Lara stung a first-pitch changeup from Tarik Skubal up the middle to score Garrett Mitchell. Mitchell had drawn a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cooper Pratt. Milwaukee took a fifth-inning lead on a manufactured run and held it for the rest of the game. That approach captured the Brewers’ march to the NLCS and showed that this is not the same team that was swept by the Dodgers last year.
Milwaukee’s bullpen was the star
DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined for 4⅔ scoreless innings and got out of several tough situations with composure. Ashby deserves special credit. He covered two innings and induced a pair of infield popups in the eighth, from Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
Defence bailed out Misiorowski
Jacob Misiorowski struggled early, but Milwaukee’s infield repeatedly saved him. Two 6-4-3 double plays ended the first and second innings. When Misiorowski left in the fifth, Hall struck out the side’s next threat with another double play to end the inning. Three double plays in total kept the Dodgers from building any momentum.
What it means for the Dodgers
This is only the second time since the Dodgers’ championship run began in 2024 that they have lost the opening game of a playoff series. The first was the World Series last year, when they came back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. Yamamoto starts Game 2 on Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and falling 2-0 behind a team as strong as the Brewers would create real trouble for Los Angeles.
Key moments from Game 1
Uribe struck out the side with runners on to keep Milwaukee ahead. Skubal recorded six strikeouts through the first three innings. Brice Turang tied the game for the Brewers before Lara’s go-ahead hit. Misiorowski’s fastball reached 102 mph.