In a game full of small margins, the Brewers found the one swing that mattered most.
Brice Turang’s leadoff homer in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie, and Milwaukee hung on for a 2-1 win over the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night at American Family Field. The night had the feel of a pitching duel from the start, and even when both lineups managed to push across runs, the Brewers were the team that delivered the biggest hit.
Tarik Skubal opened by blowing through Milwaukee’s order with six strikeouts the first time around, and for a while it looked like the Dodgers’ starter might be in control. Jake Bauers’ one-out double in the second inning was the only hit allowed in the first three innings, but the game began to tilt in the fourth when Turang jumped Skubal for a homer to left-center field and evened things at 1-1.
Milwaukee kept pressing in the fifth, and Skubal’s toughest inning came with his first two walks of the night. Garrett Mitchell was walked, moved to second on a sacrifice, and scored on a single by No. 9 hitter Luis Lara to put the Brewers ahead for good.
The inning kept brewing from there, with a single and a walk loading the bases and two outs later, but William Contreras flied out to leave three runners stranded. Skubal survived the frame, though it cost him 26 pitches and ended his night after five innings.
The Dodgers had their own plan for Jacob Misiorowski, and they made no secret of it before the game.
“It’s more a little bit conceding the slug, hitting the ball out front, to then seeing the ball a little bit longer to spoil pitches, to shoot the ball the other way. That’s how you’ve got to beat this guy,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters in Milwaukee before Sunday’s game. “To think you’re going to catch him out front and pull it in the air is bananas.”
That approach wasn’t far off from what Los Angeles used against Chris Sale in Game 3 of the Division Series last Tuesday, when it got him out after five innings with three runs already on the board.
Against Misiorowski, the Dodgers forced plenty of traffic and plenty of stress. They fouled off 21 pitches, worked six three-ball counts, and had the bases loaded in a 35-pitch second inning in which they scored once but couldn’t add more.
Misiorowski needed 94 pitches to record 13 outs, and none of his five innings were clean. He allowed five singles and three walks, but Los Angeles still managed only that one run.
Part of the reason was Milwaukee’s work in the field. Turang erased Mookie Betts with a sharp stop and throw behind the bag in the first inning, then turned a slick double play in the second that shut down another Dodgers rally. That defensive work mattered even more as the night turned into a bullpen game.
The Brewers’ relievers kept the door mostly shut after that. Abner Uribe allowed two Dodgers singles in the sixth without letting either score, and Aaron Ashby worked the eighth while Will Smith walked. Four Milwaukee pitchers combined to get the final 13 outs.
Trevor Megill made the ninth nervy. With two outs, he walked Kyle Tucker, then 21-year-old pinch-hitter Josue De Paula also drew a walk to keep Los Angeles alive. Mookie Betts finally ended it with a flyout.
The Dodgers’ bullpen did its part, too. Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, and Tanner Scott put up three scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing only a single and one unintentional walk, along with two intentional walks that went nowhere. That kind of relief work should keep this series tight.
For one night, though, the Brewers did enough in the moments that mattered and took Game 1.
WP - DL Hall (2-0): 1 batter, 2 outs
LP - Tarik Skubal (1-1): 5 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Sv - Trevor Megill (3): 1 IP, 2 walks
Game 2 is set for Monday at 2 p.m. PT on Fox, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto facing Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson. Since the All-Star break, both pitchers have allowed 18 earned runs - Yamamoto over 84 1/3 innings in 12 starts with 86 strikeouts, Henderson over 75 innings in 13 starts with 80 strikeouts.
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