MILWAUKEE – Second baseman Brice Turang and the Milwaukee bullpen helped the Brewers move one victory closer to a pennant than they got last season.
Turang homered and the Brewers relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings after a gritty start by ace Jacob Misiorowski to preserve a 2-1 victory over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night in the opener of the National League Championship Series.
The Brewers, whose only World Series appearance was in 1982 when they were in the American League, were swept in four games last season in the NLCS by the Dodgers, who went on to win their second consecutive World Series.
“Miz, say what you want, you didn’t see 105 (mph), whatever, but whenever he got in a jam, he got better,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “He gave us 4 1/3, and our bullpen continues to be really special.”
The Dodgers threatened in the ninth after a pair of two-out walks off closer Trevor Megill, but Mookie Betts flied to center for the final out.
“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. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to. We’ve just got to reset.”
Dodgers starter Tarik Skubal cruised through the first three innings, allowing one hit and striking out six, before Turang homered to open the fourth, sending a 2-0 pitch 384 feet to left-center to tie it 1-all.
The Brewers, last in the National League in homers during the regular season, pushed across a run in more typical fashion in the fifth to go up 2-1. Garrett Mitchell walked to open, advanced on Cooper Pratt’s sacrifice bunt and scored on rookie Luis Lara’s single to center.
“They’re willing to give up an out to get a guy in scoring position to get a hit,” Roberts said. “Lara came up with a big hit right there, which proved to be the difference.”
Los Angeles had acquired Skubal (1-1), a two-time American League Cy Young winner, from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, while the Brewers were also pursuing him. The left-hander allowed two runs on five hits over five innings, striking out seven and walking two.
“He was dominant,” Murphy said of Skubal. “The swing by Turang and then one pitch he left up to Lara, he was pretty dominant.”
The Dodgers had runners on the corners with two outs in the sixth after a pair of singles, but Abner Uribe fanned Andy Pages to end the right-hander’s one scoreless inning.
Left-hander Aaron Ashby followed with two scoreless innings before giving way to Megill, who recorded two saves against the San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series after collecting 30 during the regular season.
The Brewers bullpen allowed just three runs (one earned) in 19 innings in the four games against the Padres in a series which neither team led by more than two runs.
Misiorowski escaped a bases-loaded jam, allowing just one run in a 35-pitch second inning.
Shohei Ohtani walked to open and Teoscar Hernandez singled. Pages’ one-out single to right scored Ohtani from second. Kyle Tucker walked to load the bases, but Enrique Hernandez bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Misiorowski, considered the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award after leading the majors with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts, struggled through 4 1/3 innings but allowed just one run on five hits. He struck out five and walked three in a 94-pitch outing.
Misiorowski exited after a one-out walk to Betts in the fifth, but left-hander DL Hall (2-0) relieved and Freddie Freeman grounded into the Dodgers’ third double play.
“I didn’t think I had my best stuff. Obviously good enough to make it work,” Misiorowski said. “Props to my defense behind me and all the support they gave me. (The Dodgers’) approach was really good, obviously trying to foul stuff off and get me out of the ballgame and try not to go deep in the game. So they really did their thing, and I had guys behind me helping me.”
–By Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
