MILWAUKEE — It was Milwaukee Brewer baseball on full display Sunday evening, showing the baseball world why they’ve won more games than any team in baseball the past two seasons.
They also showed the Los Angeles Dodgers that this edition of the Brewers won’t be the pushover that embarrassed themselves in the National League Championship Series a year ago.
The Brewers, playing the style of baseball that earned them 103 victories this season, stunned the Dodgers with a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the NLCS in front of a sellout crowd of 42,617 at American Family Field.
They pitched, with ace Jacob Misiorowski permitting one run in 4 ⅓ innings while their bullpen came in and pitched 4 ⅔ shutout innings.
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The Brewers produced only six hits, but they worked their pesky magic.
They bunted.
They executed the hit-and-run.
They attempted stolen bases.
They even showed they could homer, with second baseman Brice Turang hitting his first postseason longball.
And now, for the first time in five years, the Dodgers are facing a deficit in the NLCS in their bid to become the first National League team to win three consecutive pennants since the 1942-1944 St. Louis Cardinals. And no National League has ever won three consecutive World Series titles.
“I think the organization is fantastic …,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gushed about the Brewers. “They play baseball. They play baseball the way it was intended. They value 90 feet. They take extra bases. They defend well. They're athletic. They prevent runs with really good pitching and then with the defense layered in. They don't give pitches away. They hit to all fields.
“And with that, they're in every game."
The Brewers became the first team to keep two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from completing six innings in his eight career postseason games. Skubal still showed just why he was the most wanted man at the trade deadline, and why he’ll become the richest pitcher in baseball history this winter when he hits free agency, but the Brewers forced him to throw 81 pitches and beat him playing small ball in the fifth inning.
The Brewers showed off their playbook going ahead in the fifth with Garrett Mitchell drawing a leadoff walk. Rookie Cooper Pratt laid down a sacrifice bunt. And fellow rookie Luis Lara drove in Mitchell by slapping a single up the middle, giving the Brewers a 2-1 lead. They threatened to blow the game open when they loaded the bases, but Skubal escaped the jam when William Contreras flied out to right field.
It was certainly a relief for the Brewers, who badly wanted Skubal, too, at the trade deadline. The Brewers put in what they thought was an aggressive bid, but it just wasn’t as good as the Dodgers’ offer.
“I thought that if they wanted to outbid us, they could," Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told USA TODAY Sports, “”but because of the team they have and the depth of the team they have. It would be easier for them to add that extra prospect.
“The Dodgers run an exceptional organization. Yes, it's not easy to be that exceptional, and they're exceptional in everything. That's not easy. Yeah, they're getting showered with money. Well, why do you think they have all this money? Because they've been so smart in their business."
Certainly, Skubal could still change the fate of this series, with Skubal scheduled to go in Game 5, but Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, dreaded the idea of having to face Skubal and Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski, too.
“I’m very happy it’s Skubal vs. Miz,’’ Friedman before the game, “and not Miz and Skubal in the next two.’’
Just as the San Diego Padres did in the NL Division Series, the Dodgers copied the same blueprint and also wore down Misiorowski early.
Misiorowski threw 69 pitches just to get through the first three innings – including 35 pitches in the second inning when the Dodgers scored their lone run. They could have blown it open but Enrique Hernandez grounded into a bases-loaded double play to end the inning.
While the Padres fouled off 29 of Misiorowski’s 88 pitches in their game, the Dodgers fouled off 16 of Misiorowski’s first 69 pitches and 21 in the game. Misiorowski, who allowed eight baserunners, threw 94 pitches and lasted just 4 innings.
No problem.
The Brewers turned to their vaunted bullpen, and the firm of DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill closed it out.
“I think the success they've had over the last handful of years, the deepness of their roster,’’ Friedman said, “really stands out. It's hard over 162 to do what they've done. .. I think there's really not a glaring weakness. So 1 through 26, they can beat you in a lot of different ways. Those are the kind of things that I feel like you need in October.
“If you're just reliant on hitting a homer, tough way to live life. They just have so many different ways to do it."
The Dodgers certainly aren’t panicking, not with World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound for Game 2. They also are accustomed to comebacks, down 3 games to 2 to the Toronto Blue Jays in last year’s World Series, only to cross the border going home with a World Series trophy.
“Once you get through the marathon and you get to the sprint of the postseason,’’ Roberts said, “advantage goes to us in the sense of the experience.’’
Then again, now that the Brewers are back in the NLCS, they’re starting to get that experience, too.
“They’re playing with confidence,’’ Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said, “so that may have been all they needed. To get real experience, and a real taste of it, and now they know what they have to do.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Milwaukee plays Brewer Ball to land uppercut on Dodgers, grab control of NLCS
