MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brice Turang had one sweet swing, Luis Lara delivered and Milwaukee's bullpen was terrific once again.
Looking for a breakthrough, the Brewers are off to a flying start in the NL Championship Series.
Turang homered off Tarik Skubal and four Milwaukee relievers shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers after Jacob Misiorowski’s taxing outing
, sending the Brewers to a 2-1 victory in Game 1 on Sunday night.Lara hit a tiebreaking single off Skubal
in the fifth inning as Milwaukee jumped ahead in the first NLCS matchup of 100-win teams since the Cincinnati Reds eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. Milwaukee had dropped seven consecutive postseason games against Los Angeles, including a sweep in last year's NLCS.
The Brewers are among five current teams that have never won it all.
“The dream for me is to win the World Series,” Lara said through an interpreter. “That will be the dream moment, is we’re able to complete that. Obviously very happy that I was able to come through and come through for my teammates.”
Game 2 is on Monday in Milwaukee. Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts for the Dodgers, and Logan Henderson takes the mound for the Brewers.
Los Angeles, looking to become the first team to win three straight championships since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees, grounded into three double plays, stranded nine runners and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 2 for 22 in the playoffs.
“You can’t go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win four,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s going to be a long series. We knew it coming in.”
Los Angeles chased Misiorowski, the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, in the fifth inning, but managed just two hits against a Milwaukee bullpen that has allowed one earned run in 23 2/3 postseason innings.
“Those guys are grinding out there,” Misiorowski said. “Every day being able to put up zeros, that’s the game. That’s the goal. It’s amazing what they’re doing and the work they’re putting in.”
DL Hall replaced Misiorowski with a runner aboard and got Freddie Freeman to ground into a double play, sending a charge through the rollicking crowd of 42,617. Abner Uribe allowed two hits in the sixth, then struck out Andy Pages with runners at the corners for the final out of the inning.
Aaron Ashby pitched two innings, and Trevor Megill got three outs for the save. Kyle Tucker and pinch-hitter Josue De Paula walked with two down in the ninth before Mookie Betts flied to the warning track in center.
“Miz and their ’pen are about the same," Freeman said. "That’s a great pitching staff. That’s two great pitching staffs. Two great teams going at it. It’s kind of what we envisioned.”
Los Angeles made Misiorowski throw 35 pitches in the second. Pages drove in Shohei Ohtani on a grounded single into right field, and Tucker loaded the bases when he reached on a 10-pitch walk that included four foul balls.
But Misiorowski limited the damage when he got Kiké Hernández to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
“You didn’t see 105 (mph), whatever, but whenever he got in a jam, he got better,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “His stuff wasn’t great, no, it wasn’t, but it’s still pretty darn good.”
Turang responded with a leadoff drive into the home bullpen in left-center in the fourth, going the other way on a 95.5 mph sinker inside. It was the second career postseason homer for Turang, who went 1 for 15 with six strikeouts in last year's NLCS.
“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,” Turang said. "Not try to do too much, just drive back up the middle and get inside of it.
Sticking with the same brand of baseball that resulted in the majors' best record this year, Milwaukee went ahead to stay in the fifth. The Brewers have come from behind in three of their four postseason wins.
Garrett Mitchell reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on rookie Cooper Pratt's sacrifice bunt. Lara, another rookie, then grounded an RBI single into center field. The Brewers loaded the bases with two down, but Skubal escaped the jam when William Contreras flied to right.
“A leadoff walk just can’t happen," Skubal said. “A leadoff walk in that inning, then you give them the ability to bunt the ball over and then all they need is a base hit, and they got it.”
Yamamoto is 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 postseason appearances. The Japanese right-hander pitched a three-hitter in a 5-1 victory at Milwaukee in Game 2 of last year's NLCS.
Henderson is making his second career postseason start. The right-hander tossed five-plus innings of two-run ball in Milwaukee's 4-3 win over San Diego in Game 2 of their NL Division Series. He went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts against Los Angeles this season.
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