The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the 2026 NLCS Game 2, expecting Yoshinobu Yamamoto to recreate the magic of last year. Instead, the Milwaukee Brewers dismantled Yamamoto’s mystique, turning last year’s masterpiece into this year’s nightmare. One year after Yamamoto delivered a nine-inning complete game in 2025 NLCS Game 2, the Japanese ace lasted just 2 ⅔ innings this time, surrendering three earned runs with only one strikeout. The familiar matchup had an entirely different ending, and the Brewers’ relentless offense made sure Yamamoto had no time to settle in.
“We’re gonna be more ready than we were last time, I believe. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but we’ve got to be ready for what they say is the best team in baseball. But we think we are. We’re going to do our best to stay with them and beat them in 7 games,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy set the tone ahead of the NLCS face-off against the Dodgers.
With a 2-0 lead, his players are turning that confidence into results. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had little choice but to acknowledge the challenge his rivals are presenting.
“Those guys put together really good at-bats. They were spoiling really good pitches,” FOX Sports: MLB quoted Roberts on pulling out Yamamoto.
After just 75 pitches and 8 outs, Yamamoto was done, the shortest postseason outing of his career.
In the first inning, Brewers’ Brice Turang led off the bottom of the 1st with a sharp double to left-center. Two batters later, William Contreras drove him home with an RBI single to score their first run.
The second inning passed quietly. The third unraveled.
David Hamilton hit a liner into center field for a lead-off single. In the next at-bat, Jackson Chourio lined out, but Hamilton still managed to steal second base. Turang then stepped in the plate and drew a walk. Jack Bauers also drew a walk, loading all the bases.
Christian Yelich then lined a sharp two-run single to center field. Yamamoto was pulled right after.
“For me, I felt we had to stop the damage right there,” Roberts told Ken Rosenthal during a live interview on FOX.
Against Yelich, Yamamoto recorded the longest at-bat of his career, throwing 12 pitches, with six of them fouled off in a 3-2 count against Jake Bauers.
Last year’s scene was entirely different, though.
Yamamoto pitched a 111-pitch complete-game masterpiece, giving up just one run to secure a victory.
This time, Roberts was right that the Brewers’ batters were effectively spoiling Yamamoto’s good pitches.
In the third, Turang exemplified the Brewers’ approach:
He fought through a 6-pitch at-bat before drawing a walk on a borderline pitch. On the final pitch, Yamamoto threw a cutter that appeared to clip the outside edge of the strike zone. But Turang kept his patience and drew a walk after a called ball four.
While the Brewers’ offense frustrated the Dodgers’ pitching staff, their bullpen never let the Dodgers have a breather.
After Logan Henderson’s 4.0-inning start, Dustin May entered the mound.
May entered with a runner on base and allowed nothing. JoJo Romero took the mound in the 6th and dismantled the core of the Dodgers’ lineup, striking out two batters in a clean, 1-2-3 frame.
Abner Uribe pitched 1.1 perfect innings across the seventh and eighth, striking out two. Aaron Ashby closed the ninth by securing the final two strikeouts.
The Brewers became the first team in MLB postseason history to have five perfect innings in a single game.
The Brewers’ dominance from both ends of the ball ensured the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss.
The Brewers have never won a World Series, with their last appearance in 1982. Now, they are two more wins away from scripting another history, perhaps the biggest in their franchise history.
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