Unsurprisingly, in a battle of two aces, Jacob Misiorowski and Tarik Skubal, the expected NL Cy Young winner and the two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner, runs were hard to come by in this pitchers’ duel. But ultimately, in Game 1 of the NLCS, the Brewers came out on top 2-1.
The Dodgers struck first against Misiorowski. Shohei Ohtani drew a leadoff walk, then Teoscar Hernandez singled. With one out, Andy Pages slapped a ground ball single through the right side to bring home Ohtani and give the Dodgers a 1-0
lead.
Misiorowski did not have his best stuff in this game. He hit 104 MPH once, but the vertical break on his fastball was down a couple inches and the command wasn’t there as he walked three on the night. Still, he battled and was able to induce a 6-4-3 double play to end that 2nd inning.
Then, drama.
In the 4th inning, Teoscar Hernandez danced a little too far off of first base, Misiorowski stepped off, spun around, and calmly threw to first to get Hernandez out, seemingly ending the inning. However, home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso called a balk on Misiorowski. Pat Murphy was emphatically upset at the call.
Misiorowski ended up striking out Kyle Tucker to end the inning, so no harm was truly done. Miz was emotional coming off the mound, and the Brewers appeared to have a fire lit under them after that. Immediately after, to leadoff the bottom of the 4th, Brice Turang slugged his first home run of the postseason.
That tied the game at 1-1 and cemented momentum in the Brewers favor.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to foul a ball off my knee again, so I was like I’m going to stay inside of this one. Not try to do too much, just drive back up the middle and get inside of it. Yeah, I just got it. Just trying to stay inside of it, drive it up the middle, and sometimes less is more.” Turang said.
The Brewers would keep it going in the 5th after Garrett Mitchell led off the inning with a walk, then was moved over on a sacrifice bunt from Cooper Pratt. That perfectly set up Luis Lara to give the Brewers the lead.
At just 21 years old and the youngest player on the team, Lara came through when his team needed him the most.
“(Lara) is very committed to team. He’s very committed to not letting his teammates down, and I think that’s what makes the guy special at this point. Both him and Pratt are up here not knowing they were going to be in the Big Leagues, and they are both very conscientious about getting it done the right way. They’re more concerned about not letting their teammates down than not letting a national audience down.” Murphy said.
“Really I was just looking to push the runner across. That was the only thing that was going through my mind. That’s what I’m focused on in that moment is just finding a way to connect, put the ball in play, and find a way for the run to score. Thanks to God I was able to do that.” Lara said.
The Brewers had an opportunity to bring in some insurance runs in that inning. Jackson Chourio followed with a single, then Brice Turang drew a walk, loading the bases with two outs for William Contreras. However, Contreras flew out to deep right to end the threat.
The Brewers had a few more chances to add on, but were unable to capitalize. Jake Bauers was picked off first by Alex Vesia in the 6th on what clearly should’ve been called a balk. Vesia’s stride was towards home and far beyond the 45 degree angle that’s allowed. Yet it was not called.
Then in the 8th, Chourio led things off with a single. The Dodgers then brought in $72MM reliever Tanner Scott and refused to allow him to face a single right-handed batter. They intentionally walked William Contreras to face Jake Bauers, and then intentionally walked Andrew Vaughn to face Garrett Mitchell. Mitchell grounded out to end the inning and leave it a 2-1 Brewers lead heading into the 9th.
Trevor Megill was called upon to lock things down once again, and he was able to deliver, albeit with a little bit of stress. After inducing an infield fly and a flyout, Megill walked the 8th and 9th hitters for the Dodgers to turn the lineup over to Mookie Betts. Betts flew out to deep center to end the game and Garrett Mitchell caught it and celebrated with an emphatic fist pump.
The Brewers will not be swept out of the NLCS this year. They have taken the 1-0 series lead and are now three wins away from reaching the World Series.
For the Brewers to accomplish their goal, they’ll need to win the games started by Misiorowski. They were able to accomplish that and have now set themselves up with a chance to take a 2-0 series lead with Game 2 on Monday afternoon. It’ll be Logan Henderson on the mound for the Crew while Brewers killer Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the mound for the Dodgers.
