By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Thanks to a couple of big swings from William Contreras, the Milwaukee Brewers need just a couple more wins to earn their first National League pennant and end the Los Angeles Dodgers’ championship reign.
Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Brewers defeated the Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order to give Milwaukee 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.
“They’re going against arguably one of the best teams in baseball ever put together, and they don’t care,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose team was swept by Los Angeles in last year’s NLCS. “They won’t be denied. It starts with the dude behind the dish (Contreras).”
The Brewers are chasing their first World Series appearance since 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.
“It’s going to be a great series,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose error in the sixth inning led to the go-ahead run. “They know they’ve got a lot on their hands, too. We’ve just got to go out on Wednesday and play better.”
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 postseason appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.
“I think everybody’s so used to him being a robot that if he didn’t go eight innings, no hits, whatever, it wasn’t Yamamoto,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “It shows he’s a human being and it’s playoff baseball.”
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 field off Kris Bubic in the fifth.
“We just kept going,” said Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich, who drove in two runs. “We kept competing.”
That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where Milwaukee had the edge. Brewers relievers have allowed one earned run in 28 2/3 postseason innings.
Asked what makes Milwaukee’s bullpen so challenging, Freeman offered a simple explanation.
“They all throw 100 (mph) from different angles,” Freeman said.
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 Freeman’s glove and into foul territory, 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. The three-time All-Star catcher finished 3 for 4 with a walk and three RBIs.
“I took it as motivation,” Contreras said through intepreter Daniel de Mondesert. “That was a decision that their manager took, and then I just tried not to get too big or do anything too much. I wanted to put the ball in play. I knew it was a big run there.”
Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.
Neither starter lasts long
An anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and rookie Logan Henderson didn’t pan out.
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 pitched one in 2017.
This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.
“He just didn’t have it tonight, which is very rare,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
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 gave up four runs over four-plus 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. 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 on Betts’ groundout and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.
Henderson also made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third that allowed Edman to score from third.
Up next
Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Blake Snell (4-1, 1.90) is the Dodgers’ likely starter.
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