The Milwaukee Brewers have made a habit of turning the back end of games into their own territory, and on Monday night they used that edge to push the Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink.
Milwaukee beat Los Angeles 7-4 to grab a 2-0 lead in the NLCS, leaning on a bullpen that turned in an historic stretch after starter Logan Henderson left in the top of the fifth inning. Henderson’s second throwing error of the night tied the game at three, and manager Dan Murphy had to cover 15 outs from his relievers. They answered with five perfect innings, a run of work that dropped their postseason bullpen ERA to 0.31 through six games.
That five-inning run without a baserunner was, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, “the most [perfect] innings by a team's bullpen ... in a game in postseason history.”
Dustin May was first out of the bullpen and helped limit the damage after the first two Dodgers hitters reached in the fifth. JoJo Romero, who was also acquired in that May trade with the Cardinals, got the win and opened the sixth by fooling four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani for a strikeout.
Abner Uribe stayed locked in as well, striking out two over 1.1 innings. He has appeared in all six playoff games for Milwaukee, hasn’t allowed an earned run and has struck out five.
Aaron Ashby finished the job, retiring the final five outs on just 21 pitches.
Milwaukee’s relief group was already one of the club’s biggest strengths in the regular season, when it led the NL with a 3.40 bullpen ERA over 640.2 innings. That same edge has carried straight into October, where the Brewers’ arms have been central to their first 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series in franchise history.
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Pat Murphys fingerprints were all over it, from the lineup choices to how the pitching was managed once the game tightened. With the Dodgers now chasing from behind, the Brewers can point to a performance that looked equal parts execution and planning, and theyre carrying a real sense that their manager has pushed the right buttons at the right time. [Read more 🡒]