The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to take a 2-0 series lead in an LCS for the first time in franchise history. They’ve had four chances in the LCS before and they went 0-4 in those games. Today is chance to change that.
It’ll be a tough task with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brewers faced Yamamoto in Game 2 last year and he threw a complete game three-hitter while striking out seven. Yamamoto faced the Brewers twice this season. The first time was in May and Yamamoto threw 7
IP and allowed just one run. Then he faced the Crew again in August and went 6 IP, allowing just one run.
Yamamoto is as good as it gets, especially in the postseason. In the NLDS against the Braves, Yamamoto went 7 IP again, allowing just one run and striking out 10. Over 11 career postseason outings over the last three years, he has a 2.14 ERA.
On the other side, the Brewers will have Logan Henderson, the 24 year old rookie who has yet to allow more than 3 ER in a single start in his career. Henderson was solid in Game 2 in the NLDS against the Padres, going 5 IP allowing just one earned run. He did have some shaky command, allowing three walks, but kept the Brewers in the game.
“I don’t know what the secret sauce is, man, but he’s in the clubhouse now chopping it up with some of the guys like he doesn’t have one of the biggest starts of his life tonight. That, I think, reflects when he’s one the mound. You can just feel it.” Jake Bauers said on Henderson.
Pat Murphy is changing up his lineup a little bit again from Game 1. Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick are back in the lineup today to face the right-handed Yamamoto. David Hamilton is also in the lineup starting at third base.
The top four spots remain unchanged with Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, William Contreras and Jake Bauers getting things started. Yelich is the DH and batting fifth. Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt are in their same spots of 6th and 7th. Frelick is batting 8th in right field and Hamilton is batting 9th.
The Dodgers lineup also will have a few changes. Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez have flip-flopped in the 3 and 5 spots in the lineup. Also Tommy Edman will be starting at second base and batting 9th in place of Kike Hernandez who got the start last night. Still, the group of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Shohei Ohtani make up the 1, 2, and 4 spots in the lineup.
Milwaukee hasn’t gotten a ton of length from their starters this postseason, putting quite the toll on their bullpen. The multiple days of rest has helped, and an off day on Tuesday will help as well. But the more looks the Dodgers get on the Brewers top relievers, the more of a chance familiarity could breed success for the hitters.
“Sometimes there’s nothing else you can do. You have to give your team the best chance to win. If, in fact, familiarity, as we know, as the numbers tell us, do provide an edge when you know them better. So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re the one-inning guys. Can’t always do that, but we try like hell. I do think it’s an advantage, but what were we to do last night differently?” Pat Murphy said.
The Brewers will be hoping for length, and perhaps a larger lead than they’ve enjoyed to this point in the postseason as every single inning has been within two runs so far for the Crew. But runs will be hard to come by against Yamamoto.
