William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.
The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.
Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.
The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.
Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.
“Just wasn’t sharp today,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He just didn’t have it tonight, which is very rare.”
The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied it with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.
That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit. Brewers relievers have allowed one earned run in 28 2/3 postseason innings.
The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.
After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.
Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.
Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.
Neither starter lasts long
The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.
In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.
This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.
Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.
Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.
Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.
Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.
After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.
Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.
Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.
