MILWAUKEE — Three double plays. A bases-loaded jam that produced nothing. One swing from Andy Pages that could have changed everything and changed nothing. The Dodgers didn’t get beaten up in Game 1 of the NLCS. They got squeezed. The Brewers won 2-1 at American Family Field on Sunday and took a 1-0 series lead.
Tarik Skubal was good. The bullpen was better. The bats, once again, couldn’t cash in. The same problem that followed Los Angeles out of Atlanta followed it to Milwaukee.
Ohtani Scores, Then the Bases Load and Nothing Follows
The Dodgers fired the first shot in the second. Shohei Ohtani walked, Teoscar Hernández lined a single to right, and after a Max Muncy strikeout, Pages singled to right to bring Ohtani home. It was 1-0, and Kyle Tucker followed with a walk to load the bases with one out.
Here was the moment to put Jacob Misiorowski in a hole. Kiké Hernández grounded into a double play instead. Bases loaded, one out, one run.
Turang Ties It With One Swing
Skubal had allowed one hit through three innings. Then Brice Turang got hold of a fly ball in the fourth, and it kept carrying into left-center. Tie game, 1-1.
Skubal answered right away. A strikeout, a single, then a double play started by Kiké. Inning over.
Misiorowski Is Gone, and LA Still Can’t Break Through
Milwaukee expected its ace to go deep. Instead, Misiorowski was pulled in the fifth after 4⅓ innings, with the game tied and Mookie Betts on first after a walk. DL Hall took the ball, and opportunity was knocking.
Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play. That was the third of the night, and it came at the worst possible time.
Lara Lines One Through, Skubal Escapes the Rest
Luis Lara delivered the clean swing Milwaukee needed in the fifth. Garrett Mitchell walked and was bunted over to second, then Lara lined a sharp single to center to make it 2-1.
It could have been worse. Skubal got a groundout, then Jackson Chourio singled and Turang walked to load the bases. Skubal got William Contreras to fly out to Tucker in right. He finished with five innings, two runs and seven strikeouts, and kept the Dodgers within one.
The Gut Punch in the Sixth
This was the game. Ohtani singled with one out in the sixth. Teoscar struck out. Muncy singled, and Ohtani moved to third with two outs and the tying run 90 feet away.
Pages swung through strike three. The crowd erupted. Two runners stranded, and the Dodgers never got that close again.
The Pen Holds, the Brewers Hold On
The Dodgers’ relievers kept the door open. Alex Vesia erased a runner with a pickoff and struck out two. Evan Phillips struck out the side in the seventh.
Tanner Scott walked a tightrope in the eighth. After Chourio’s single and a sacrifice bunt, Scott intentionally walked Contreras, struck out Jake Bauers, and intentionally walked Andrew Vaughn to load the bases. Mitchell hit a sharp grounder to Betts, and Betts threw him out at first. Three relievers, three scoreless innings.
In the ninth, the Dodgers stirred. Tucker walked, De Paula pinch-hit and walked, and Tommy Edman came in to run. Two on, two outs, Betts at the plate. He flew out to center to end it.
Same Problem, Higher Stakes
The Dodgers collected seven hits and six walks and scored once. They were 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the NLDS, and Game 1 added three double plays to the pile. The ball has to find grass, and the outs have to move runners.
It’s one game, and the pitching gave them every chance to win it. The fix lives in the lineup, and it isn’t complicated: put the ball in play and get the run in.
Up Next
Game 2 is Monday at American Family Field at 2 p.m. PT. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who carries a 1.29 postseason ERA and 10 strikeouts into the start, faces Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson, who sits at 1.80 this October. Monday is the chance to answer.
