Blake Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before Los Angeles barely hung on in the ninth as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead when they handed the ball over to Rocky Sasaki in the ninth inning after Snell threw 103 pitches. Sasaki had pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings while adjusting to the bullpen role in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia, but he wasn’t nearly as sharp on Monday.
Isaac Collins drew a walk and Jake Bowers hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the center field wall. Jackson Chorio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced pinch runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked on a 3-2 low pitch and out.
That’s when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed Sasaki and brought in Treinen.
Yelich stole second to move the potential series win into scoring position before William Contreras walked a 3-2 pitch low and out. After Treinen nearly hit Turang with a pitch — which would have tied the game — Turang hit a neck-high fastball for 2-2.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place on Tuesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Los Angeles and Freddy Peralta for Milwaukee in the All-Star Game.
This NLCS is a study in contrasts, as the Brewers play in MLB’s smallest market while the defending World Series champion Dodgers have the most expensive roster in the game.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy pointed out the difference in star power between the two teams by joking as he spokePress conference before the match“I’m sure most Dodger players couldn’t name eight players on our roster.”
However, the Brewers were swept in their six regular season games with the Dodgers. All of those games came last July, while Snell was on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation.
Snell showed Monday what a difference he can make. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 while walking no one and allowing just one hit — a single to Caleb Durbin in the third.
Freddie Freeman broke a goalless draw withHomer soloOn the sixth. Freeman’s campaign came after the Brewers thwarted several chances in Los Angeles, most notably in a freak accident.8-6-2 double playThat was inches away from Max Muncy becoming a grand slam.
Freeman connected on a 3-2 pitch from Chad Patrick and fired a shot so high that it came tantalizingly close to the roof of American Family Field before barely clearing the right field wall for his first homer of the season.
Patrick was coming out greatNL section seriesAs he struck out six and did not allow any baserunner more than 4 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers added what ended up being an insurance run in the ninth inning when Mookie Betts drew a bases-loaded walk off Abner Uribe on a 3-2 pitch out.
Milwaukee stayed close due to missed opportunities in Los Angeles. The most obvious example came in the fourth, when the Brewers produced oneThe strangest double playsin postseason history.
The bases were loaded when Muncy fielded a drive by Quin Brister that was heading out of the infield before Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick could get his glove over the center field wall. The ball came off Frelick’s glove and hit the top of the fence before he caught it in the air.
The Los Angeles racers returned to their original bases, believing that Frelick had made it clean. Frelick threw to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who threw to catcher William Contreras to force a home run from Teoscar Hernandez. Contreras then ran to third to throw out Will Smith as well.
Los Angeles also had runners on first and second with one out in the fifth before Betts grounded into a double play. The Dodgers left runners on first and second after Freeman’s homer in the sixth. Freeman hit a two-run single in the eighth but was stranded in the third when Tommy Edman hit a swinging single off Trevor Miguel.