The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the NLCS, a rematch a year in the making. Rookie Luis Lara delivered the decisive blow, stinging a first-pitch changeup from Tarik Skubal up the middle to score Garrett Mitchell, who had drawn a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Cooper Pratt sacrifice bunt.
The moment that decided it
Milwaukee can score in a variety of ways, but taking a fifth-inning lead on a manufactured run and holding it for the rest of the game captured the team’s march to the NLCS. It also showed that these are not the same Brewers who were swept by the Dodgers last year.
Bullpen shines
The Brewers’ bullpen was the star of the game. DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined to throw 4⅔ scoreless innings and worked their way out of several tough spots. Ashby deserves special credit. He covered two innings and induced a pair of eighth-inning infield popups, from Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
Defence bails out Misiorowski
Milwaukee’s infield defence made the difference early. Jacob Misiorowski ran into trouble, but the Brewers turned 6-4-3 double plays to end both the first and second innings. After Misiorowski left in the fifth, Hall induced another inning-ending double play to snuff out a potential rally.
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 came in the World Series last year, when they bounced 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 the Dodgers know that a 2-0 series deficit against a team as strong as the Brewers could cause real trouble.
Key highlights
Skubal struck out six through the first three innings. Misiorowski reached 102 mph on the radar gun. Uribe struck out a batter to strand two runners and keep Milwaukee in front. Brice Turang then tied the game for the Brewers before Lara put them back in front.