The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1, in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game while the LA offense did more than enough to bring the Dodgers within two wins of a second consecutive World Series berth.
NLCS Game 2 Recap
The Brewers opened Game 2 with a bang, as Freddy Peralta pitched a shutdown top of the first inning and Jackson Chourio crushed the first pitch from Yamamoto into the right field bleachers to give Milwaukee an immediate 1-0 lead.
The Dodgers quickly responded in the top of the second inning, as Teoscar Hernandez worked a full count before depositing a breaking ball into the left field seats to tie the game at one apiece. Two batters later, Kiké Hernandez singled, and Andy Pages brought him in on an RBI double.
The two pitchers settled in after that, trading zeroes through the fifth inning.
The Brewers elected to bring Peralta back out for the sixth inning, and he retired the first two batters before Max Muncy came to the plate. Muncy worked a full count and fouled off the sixth pitch of the at-bat before sending the seventh pitch to deep center field to give the Dodgers an insurance run and a 3-1 lead.
With the home run, he became the Dodgers’ all-time postseason home run leader with 14.
The Dodgers then tacked on again in the top of the seventh, as Kiké Hernandez doubled and Pages sacrificed him over to third base. That brought up Shohei Ohtani — who has mired in a 1-for-23 slump — and he delivered with an RBI single to bring the lead to 4-1.
Yamamoto came back out for the seventh, and continued his dominance, pitching a 1-2-3 inning.
The Dodgers offense then added on again in the top of the eighth inning. Tommy Edman hit an RBI single, but LA left the bases loaded on a Pages pop out and Ohtani strikeout.
Yamamoto came back out for the eighth, and pitched another 1-2-3 inning. Then, the Dodgers had an opportunity to add on again — loading the bases with zero outs — but failed to score.
Yamamoto came back out for the ninth and pitched another 1-2-3 inning to finish off the historic complete game.
When’s the Last Time a Dodgers Pitcher Had a Complete Game in Postseason?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher since Jose Lima in the 2004 NLDS to throw a complete game in the postseason.
Photo Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
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8 Responses
THAT’S how you avoid bullpen issues.
It’s that simple! lol
Yams with a gem. It was his first complete game in MLB and a very well-timed one. It was also the Dodgers’ first in the postseason since 2004 (Jose Lima) and the first by any MLB pitcher in the postseason since 2017 (Justin Verlander).
Couldn’t have asked for a better time for it!
Is this now a dodger recipe for success, not having your starting pitchers available for most of the regular season, and strategically leveraging their injuries so their arms are repaired for the back-end and going into the post-season? Gotta say, it’s a novel approach. You gotta be able to afford it by being able to get through the regular season without pitching but apparently they can.
It does kind of feel like they cracked the code — and they always have more than enough depth to do it
Reminiscent of years, no, generations past when men such as Koufax, Hershiser and Valenzuela roamed the ballparks. By historical standards it was a great performance, by today’s standards it was an incredible one.
Not sure how they’re going to get another 6 wins this way, but I’ve sure got my fingers crossed.
It’s definitely easier to see them getting 6 more wins this way than last year when they were piecing together bullpen games and punting games in the postseason