MILWAUKEE – The Dodgers are facing a serious challenge.
In their 2-1 loss against the Brewers at American Family Field on Sunday night, the Dodgers got a glimpse of the tough road ahead in this National League Championship Series.
The Brewers, who have built their success on a strong work ethic during the regular season, took Game 1 by sticking to their game plan.
They relied on their bullpen.
They executed a well-placed bunt to advance a runner into scoring position.
Defensively, they played smoothly.
What they didn’t do, however, was succumb to the Dodgers the way they did last year when Los Angeles easily swept them in four games at this same stage.
“You can’t go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win in four (games),” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “It’s going to be a long series. We knew it coming in.”
The Brewers had a fierceness about them that was missing last year, an attitude that their manager, Pat Murphy, expressed before the game.
He made a pointed comment about Dodgers starter Tarik Skubal, saying, “I just want to step on his throat, do you know what I mean? I mean that respectfully because I really like Tarik, but I just want to beat him.”
It was half-joking, I think, but also… not quite.
The Brewers didn’t literally step on Skubal’s throat, of course. They more or less pushed him into submission, tying the game with a Brice Turang homer in the fourth inning and taking the lead with a manufactured run in the fifth.
In a game where the Dodgers managed to chase likely Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski out of the game early, they still fell short.
They were able to run up his pitch count and get him out after just 4 ⅓ innings, but they couldn’t crack him.
The second inning stood out both as the Dodgers’ most productive and frustrating moment.
Shohei Ohtani kicked it off with a four-pitch walk, moving to second after a Teoscar Hernández single. Andy Pages brought him home with another single.
Kyle Tucker then drew a 10-pitch walk, loading the bases with one out, but Kiké Hernández ended the hopes of a big inning by hitting into a double play.
Misiorowski threw a staggering 35 pitches that inning yet, the Dodgers only managed to score once.
Still, the Dodgers did extract a toll from the defeat, as Misiorowski’s exit meant the Brewers had to use four relievers, including their top three.
“Hopefully in a long series, it could prove to be beneficial the more times we see them,” Roberts mentioned.
The Brewers have even greater reliance on their bullpen now than during the regular season.
Apart from Misiorowski, they really only have rookie Logan Henderson who can start in the postseason, yet, he’s not a traditional workhorse. In his last three regular-season starts, he pitched just five innings each time. He did the same in his postseason debut against the Padres.
Then there’s right-hander Dustin May and left-hander Robert Gasser. May struggled to last even three innings in his NLDS start, while Gasser’s performance also fell short, managing just four innings.
With most of the innings falling to the bullpen, the Brewers were likely eager to limit their exposure in a game started by Misiorowski. If their key relievers pitch too much, they’ll tire out as the series progress, and the Dodgers’ hitters will grow more familiar with them.
DL Hall wrapped up the fifth inning, after which Murphy handed the game over to the key players in the Brewers’ bullpen.
Abner Uribe, who’s the second-best reliever, took the sixth. Aaron Ashby, a strong contributor throughout the regular season, pitched the seventh and eighth. Closer Trevor Megill took care of the ninth.
The Brewers have to do this three more times over the next eight days, which will be incredibly tough against a team as experienced and deep as the Dodgers.
Can the Brewers pull it off?
Regardless, they’re committed to giving their all until the very last out. The Dodgers are aware of that.
“We didn’t necessarily expect a sweep,” Kiké Hernández added. “It’s gonna be a good series.”
A series that may very well return to American Family Field for Game 6, or maybe even Game 7.
