MILWAUKEE — Brewers manager Pat Murphy might have inadvertently acknowledged the uphill battle his team faces in this National League Championship Series.
The defending champions, the Dodgers, haven’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard, but the strength and depth of their pitching staff is proving to be a tough challenge for the Brewers.
On Tuesday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered an impressive complete-game performance, securing a 5-1 win over the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS at American Family Field. Yet, astonishingly, this was just the second-best pitching display from the Dodgers in this series.
Yamamoto’s stats were remarkable: three hits, seven strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run across nine innings. Just the night before, Blake Snell showcased his talents as well, facing only 24 batters in eight innings with 10 strikeouts to boot.
The Dodgers, having invested $507 million in these two pitchers, are definitely getting their money’s worth.
Yamamoto, who inked the largest free agent deal ever for a pitcher—$325 million over 12 years—has made three postseason starts also delivering a solid 1.83 ERA.
Game 3 will return to Los Angeles on Thursday. The Dodgers are expected to start Tyler Glasnow, while the Brewers plan to go with ace Jacob Misiorowski, last on the mound for Saturday’s NL-Cubs Game 5.
If the Dodgers feel they’re not quite in the clear heading home, they also have a chance to rest their bullpen, which has barely broken a sweat, only needing one inning in the first two games of the series.
The Brewers actually took the early lead this time, with Jackson Cholio hitting a home run off Yamamoto on his first pitch. That marked Cholio’s second career postseason homer, the first being in last year’s NL Wild Card Series against the Mets.
The Dodgers quickly answered back; Teoscar Hernandez hit a solo home run in the second inning, his fourth of this postseason, to regain the lead. He was a vital player during their championship run last year.
Then, Andy Pages added an RBI double before the second inning wrapped up, pushing the score to 2-0.
Max Muncy, who narrowly missed a grand slam the previous night, finally got the big hit he needed in the sixth inning—with a liner to center field that extended the lead to 3-1 against Freddy Peralta.
Peralta pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits, with four strikeouts and one walk, before being ejected after 97 pitches.
Shohei Ohtani, despite struggling this postseason, contributed an RBI single in the seventh inning. The Dodgers’ advantage grew further, with Enrique Hernández kicking off a rally with a double that set the stage for Tommy Edman’s RBI single in the eighth, sealing a 5-1 victory.
