The Brewers have done something they had never done before in a seven-game series: grab a 2-0 lead. Now the NLCS shifts to Los Angeles on Wednesday, with Milwaukee carrying all the momentum after another night of timely hitting.
William Contreras was right in the middle of it. The Brewers catcher kept answering every Cleveland push, opening by tying the game with an RBI single in the first inning, then evening things up again in the fifth with a solo shot off Kris Bubic.
He wasn’t finished. In the next inning, Contreras delivered again with another RBI single to put Milwaukee ahead for good.
It was his second three-hit performance of this postseason.
“He’s the fire of our team,” Christian Yelich said (h/t Tyler Kepner of The Athletic). “He likes the moments, likes the big moments. We’ve got all the confidence in the world in him, whether that’s at the plate or behind it.”
That kind of production has made Contreras the spark for a Brewers offense that keeps coming.
On the other side, Cleveland has gotten its own lift from the catching spot. Patrick Bailey doesn’t bring Contreras’ offensive résumé, but he has been a real factor in October.
He launched a solo homer off Tyler Wells in the seventh inning of Game 1 against the Rays, and that swing helped start a rally that carried the Guardians to a comeback win. Cleveland added two runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to steal the opener at Tropicana Field.
Bailey is hitting .368 with two homers in the postseason. That’s a major step forward for a backstop who posted a .607 OPS in the regular season.
The next matchup brings Freddy Peralta against Parker Messick. Tampa Bay will turn to Peralta on Tuesday in an attempt to square the series. He held the Yankees to one earned run over 4 2/3 innings in Game 2 of the ALDS, and he was at his sharpest late in the regular season, going 4-0 with a 0.96 ERA in September and earning AL Pitching of the Month honors.
Cleveland’s counter is Messick, a rookie who has already flashed swing-and-miss stuff in the playoffs. He piled up 11 strikeouts across his two ALDS outings, but he also walked six and couldn’t make it out of the third inning in Game 4 against the White Sox.
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