MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Dodgers did just enough extra to avoid wasting Blake Snell’s dominant pitching performance.
Snell allowed just one hit over eight scoreless innings and the Dodgers held on for a 2-1 victory when the Milwaukee Brewers left the bases loaded in the ninth inning of the National League Championship Series opener on Monday.
“That team’s going to fight. They’re going to fight until the end,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the Brewers. “We know what we’re up against. You just want to hope guys make pitches, keep making pitches.”
Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer in the sixth inning and Los Angeles increased the lead to 2-0 in the top of the ninth when Mookie Betts drew a bases-loaded walk.
Roki Sasaki replaced Snell to open the bottom of the ninth and issued a one-out walk to Isaac Collins. Pinch hitter Jake Bauers followed with a ground-rule double to center, forcing Collins to halt at third. Jackson Chourio followed with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1.
Christian Yelich walked before Blake Treinen took over on the mound and walked William Contreras to load the bases. Treinen then fanned Brice Turang swinging on a 2-2 fastball for the save.
“You’ve got to give credit to those guys,” Roberts said. “They took the walks. They kept the line moving. And ultimately, we had to put the ball over the plate. And Blake fortunately had a good at-bat versus Turang.”
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Tuesday in Milwaukee.
Snell (3-0) allowed only a leadoff single in the third to Caleb Durbin, and then, one out later, picked him off first. Snell struck out 10 and did not walk a batter in a 103-pitch outing.
“We faced one of the best pitchers in the game,” Yelich said. “He was on. When he’s executing like that, it’s going to be a tough night. We’ve got a lot of young guys in here, a lot of these guys first time facing him. He did a great job tonight. You’ve got to give him credit, sometimes. Just proud of the guys for battling to the end.”
Freeman snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth with his first homer of the postseason, a one-out solo shot to right on a 3-2 pitch from Chad Patrick (0-1).
The Brewers escaped a bases-loaded situation in the fourth with a bizarre inning-ending double play.
Bulk reliever Quinn Priester walked Teoscar Hernandez to open the frame, and Will Smith and Tommy Edman delivered consecutive one-out singles.
Max Muncy then sent a deep fly that center fielder Sal Frelick deflected high off the wall and back into his glove, forcing the runners to delay. Shortstop Joey Ortiz fired the relay home for a forceout. Catcher Contreras then ran to third and tagged the bag for another forceout.
The Brewers escaped again in the fifth when Enrique Hernandez hit a leadoff double and Shohei Ohtani was walked intentionally with one out. Betts then bounced into another inning-ending double play.
The Dodgers’ ninth-inning run came off Abner Uribe, who gave up one hit and walked three in his lone frame. Six pitchers worked for the Brewers, including Priester, who threw four shutout innings.
Milwaukee, which had the best record in baseball with a franchise-record 97 victories, went 6-0 in the regular season against the Dodgers, sweeping home-and-away three-game series.
“We knew coming into this series they play great defense, they pitch, they get the big hits when they need to,” Freeman said. “That’s just who the Brewers are.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
