MILWAUKEE — Yoshinobu Yamamoto picked up where Blake Snell left off, and the result is the Los Angeles Dodgers heading home with a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series.
Yamamoto allowed a homer on the first pitch but did not yield another run over a complete-game three-hitter, pacing the defending champion Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Brewers in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
The right-hander fired the Dodgers’ first postseason complete game since 2004. The most recent playoff complete game by any pitcher was turned in by Justin Verlander for the Houston Astros in the 2017 American League Championship Series.
“I think if you look at the construction of our roster currently, the strength is starting pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And when you can have your most talented pitchers get the most outs, then you’re in a good spot.”
Yamamoto (2-1) struck out seven and walked one in a dominant 111-pitch outing. He never previously threw a complete game in 48 regular-season starts and six playoff starts over his two seasons with the Dodgers.
Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy each hit a solo homer off Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Thursday in Los Angeles. Since the League Championship Series went to a best-of-seven format, 17 teams have won the first two games, and 14 of those went on to reach the World Series.
In Game 1, Snell allowed just one hit over eight scoreless innings and the Dodgers held on for a 2-1 victory when the Brewers stranded the bases loaded in the ninth.
“They were both great,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Snell and Yamamoto. “Both those pitchers were as dominant as two pitchers have been. We chased way more than we’ve chased all year. We’ve been the best in baseball at not chasing. These pitchers brought out the worst in us.”
Milwaukee, which earned the top overall playoff seed after posting a franchise-record 97 victories, has scored just one run in each of the first two games, managing just five hits total.
Jackson Chourio staked the Brewers to a 1-0 lead with a leadoff homer, sending a first-pitch fastball from Yamamoto 389 feet to right-center.
“That was the first hitter,” Yamamoto said. “And I feel regrettable, that home run, but I reset my mind and then I just focused on executing my own pitches.”
The Dodgers answered with two runs in the second off Peralta. Teoscar Hernandez tied it with a one-out solo homer to left, his first of the series and fourth of the postseason. Enrique Hernandez singled up the middle with two outs, and Andy Pages followed with an RBI double into the right field corner.
Max Muncy extended the lead to 3-1 in the sixth with a two-out solo homer, chasing Peralta.
The Dodgers added a run in the seventh when Enrique Hernandez hit a leadoff double, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Shohei Ohtani’s single to right.
Los Angeles made it 5-1 on two singles and two walks in the eighth, with Tommy Edman getting the RBI.
The Brewers, meanwhile, never had an at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
“The way this offense runs is just getting on base,” Chourio said. “That’s always the plan, to go out there and get on base. Unfortunately, they did a good job of limiting our ability to do that.”
Peralta (1-2) allowed three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, one walk and a hit batter in a 97-pitch outing.
Peralta, who led the National League with 17 victories, entered 10-1 with a 1.85 ERA in 18 home starts this season, including a win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the NL Division Series.
“The one thing is you guys might have us counted out,” Murphy said. “And I understand that, 90% of the teams that have been in this situation don’t win the series. But this team has been counted out a lot this year. And I think there’s some fight left in them.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
