A pair of long inning cut short the promised battle of aces in Game 1 of the National League Championship, but the overall adage that runs would be hard to come by still proved true. Both teams scratched across a single run in their big innings, but the Brewers added a solo home run which was the difference in a 2-1 win over the Dodgers on Sunday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
Tarik Skubal struck out six batters his first time through Milwaukee’s batting order, stranding Jake Bauers
after a one-out double in the second inning, the only batter to reach base in the first three innings against the left-hander.
Brewers second baseman Brice Turang made his mark in the field with a tremendous stop and throw well behind the bag to get Mookie Betts in the first inning, then made a lightning-fast turn on a double play which ended a big Dodgers rally in the second.
Then Turang got Milwaukee on the board with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning, going other way to left center field off Skubal to tie the game at 1-1.
The fifth inning was the stressful one for Skubal, with his only two walks of the game. The first one — Garrett Mitchell — was sacrificed to second base then driven home on a single by No. 9-hitter Luis Lara, giving the Brewers their first lead. A single and walk loaded the bases with two outs but William Contreras flew out to strand three.
Skubal escaped the big inning but needed 26 pitches in the fifth alone, and that was his final frame. After his first time through the order, Skubal allowed four hits and two walks to his next 12 batters, with one strikeout.
The Dodgers knew they were in for a battle against likely National League Cy Young Award-winner Jacob Misiorowski, who throws in triple digits more than anyone else and is usually a nightmare to face. They tried a deliberate approach.
“It’s more a little bit conceding the slug, hitting the ball out front, to then seeing the ball a little bit longer to spoil pitches, to shoot the ball the other way. That’s how you’ve got to beat this guy,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters in Milwaukee before Sunday’s game. “To think you’re going to catch him out front and pull it in the air is bananas.”
This was a plan similar to what the Dodgers used against Chris Sale in Game 3 of the Division Series last Tuesday, and got him out of the game after five innings, with three runs in the bank.
The Dodgers made Misiorowski work, fouling off 21 pitches and running six different three-ball counts, three of the latter in the second inning alone. The Dodgers scored a run in that inning and had the bases loaded but couldn’t get more in a 35-pitch frame by the big right-hander.
Misiorowski needed 94 pitches to get his 13 outs, none of the five innings in which he appeared a clean one, with five singles and three walks allowed. But the Dodgers were only able to plate one run against the Brewers, thanks in part to grounding into three double plays in the first five innings alone.
The Dodgers led the National League this season with 128 double plays, third-most in the majors.
In relief
Two Dodgers singled in the sixth inning against Abner Uribe but did not score, and Will Smith walked against Aaron Ashby in the eighth against the Brewers bullpen, with four pitchers combining for 13 outs to close out the game.
Closer Trevor Megill walked Kyle Tucker with two outs in the ninth to keep the game going, then 21-year-old pinch-hitter Josue De Paula did the same to keep the game going. But Mookie Betts flew out to end the game.
Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, and Tanner Scott combined for three scoreless innings of their own, with six strikeouts, with only a single and one unintentional walk allowed (plus two intentional free passes, who were stranded). Scoring against these bullpens should be difficult. Now it’s just a matter of seeing if relative early access to relievers in Game 1 bears fruit later in the NLCS.
But the Brewers got the win in front of them on Sunday, and lead the NLCS, one game to none.
NLCS Game 1 particulars
Home run: Bruce Turang (1)
WP — DL Hall (2-0): 1 batter, 2 outs
LP — Tarik Skubal (1-1): 5 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Sv — Trevor Megill (3): 1 IP, 2 walks
Up next
Game 2 has an earlier start time on Monday (2 p.m. PT, Fox), with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound against Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson. The NLCS will be two games into their series just before the American League Championship Series begins on Monday night.
Both Yamamoto and Henderson have allowed 18 earned runs since the All-Star break — in 84 1/3 innings over 12 starts with 86 strikeouts for Yamamoto, and in 75 innings over 13 starts with 80 strikeouts for Henderson.
