Best laid plans went awry very early in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, the sloppiest and wildest game of the Dodgers postseason to date. In a game with four lead changes and two ties, the Dodgers couldn’t get a big hit to save their life, while William Contreras had three different run-scoring hits in the Brewers’ 7-4 win at American Family Field on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee.
The Dodgers head home to Los Angeles down two games to none, with their largest series deficit since the 2023 NLDS.
Chaos to start
It took until the 23rd half-inning of the series for one of these teams to score more than once in a frame, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Both Jacob Misiorowski and Tarik Skubal labored in big innings in Game 1, but limited the damage to just one run in the rallies.
After single runs for both teams in the first inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto ran into trouble. David Hamilton singled and stole second base. Brice Turang, who battled back from an 0-2 count and an unchallenged potential third-strike ball call for a double to score in the first inning, worked his way back from an 0-2 count again to walk in the third.
With two outs and two on, first baseman Jake Bauers fouled off six full-count pitches before earning a walk to load the bases.
“Yamamoto — it’s such a big pitch mix,” Bauers said during his media availability before the game. “There’s a lot that you have to try and deal with, and I think you can fall into the trap of trying to guess along with him.”
It took only two more pitches for Yamamoto to hang a curveball to Christian Yelich — in easily the worst of his 14 major league seasons — who singled home two to turn a Dodgers lead into a Dodgers deficit. It also ended Yamamoto’s day, stunningly after needing 75 pitches to get only eight outs, the shortest of his 11 postseason start with the Dodgers.
The dozen pitches to Bauers were the most in any single plate appearance in Yamamoto’s three years in the majors, the entire battle taking seven minutes, 15 seconds per the Fox broadcast.
Only way the Dodgers scored
Brewers starter Logan Henderson allowed only three hits, one of them a ball booted by shortstop Cooper Pratt. Henderson also walked two, but it was three errant throws that proved his undoing. His wild pitch in the first inning put Mookie Betts on third base directly before scoring on a sacrifice fly.
Henderson in the third inning with runners on the corners threw wildly on a pickoff attempt of Betts at first base, allowing Tommy Edman to score from third base. After Kyle Tucker doubled to lead off the fifth inning, Henderson had another throwing error when Edman tried to sacrifice, not only scoring Tucker but putting Edman on second base. He would later score on another sacrifice fly, on a play so close at the plate it required replay review to confirm.
Getting the big hits, or not
Contreras, the Brewers three-time All-Star catcher, singled home a run off Yamamoto in the first inning to tie the game, homered off left-hander Kris Bubic in the fifth inning to tie the game, then singled home a run off Brock Stewart in the sixth to give the Brewers the lead.
It was the third multi-hit game in these playoffs for Contreras, who has three home runs this October.
The Dodgers’ three-time All-Star catcher, Will Smith, was dropped to fifth in the batting order on Monday and was hitless in four at-bats. Smith has one single in 23 at-bats this postseason, with eight strikeouts.
“Obviously want the results to be a little better, but at the end of the day, it’s [six] games at the plate,” Smith told reporters in Milwaukee on Monday before Game 2. “No panic from me. So I’ll be fine.”
Smith isn’t alone in struggles at the plate.
Shohei Ohtani, still batting fourth, was hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts in Game 2, and has three singles in 19 at-bats plus three walks this postseason.
The Brewers tacked on insurance runs in the eighth inning off Edgardo Henriquez and Justin Wrobleski with three singles and a walk. That put the Brewers up 7-4, the first time either team led by more than one run in this series.
Game 2 of the NLCS was just the second of 27 games this postseason in which both teams scored at least four runs.
Against Henderson the Dodgers were hitless in all of four total at-bats with runners in scoring position, dropping them to 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position this postseason. But once he left with no outs in the fifth inning, the Brewers bullpen completely shut things down the rest of the way.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby faced 15 batters and retired them all. Ashby pitched in multiple innings for a second straight day, this time earning the save.
The Dodgers now face a major uphill battle once they get back home.
NLCS Game 2 particulars
Home run: William Contreras (3)
WP — JoJo Romero (1-1): 1 IP 2 strikeouts
LP — Brock Stewart (0-1): 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Sv — Aaron Ashby (1): 1 2/3 IP, 2 strikeouts
Up next
The NLCS moves location to Los Angeles beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday evening (5 p.m., FS1). Blake Snell probably starts for the Dodgers, though Dave Roberts earlier Monday wasn’t willing to confirm their plans just yet. Left-hander Robert Gasser starts on the mound for the Brewers.