Brewers 2, Dodgers 1: Turang, Lara, and Four Relievers

A 2-0 sinker that went the other way

October 11, 2026 - Milwaukee - Tarik Skubal got ahead of nobody on the first pitch of the fourth. He fell behind Brice Turang 2-0, then threw a sinker on the inner edge. Left on left. Turang stayed inside it and sent it 384 feet into the home bullpen.

The Milwaukee Brewers were tied. An inning later they were ahead. They beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in National League Championship Series Game 1 and took a 1-0 lead in a rematch of last October's sweep.

Clear. 71 degrees. Wind 5 mph, right to left. First pitch 7:16 p.m. Attendance 42,617. The game lasted 2 hours, 55 minutes. The Associated Press recap called it the first NLCS between 100-win clubs since Cincinnati eliminated Philadelphia in 1976. Milwaukee had dropped seven straight postseason games to Los Angeles before Sunday, including that sweep.

"These are the games we live for," Turang said in the MLB recap. "Like, we love doing this."

35 pitches, then a double play that kept it 1-0

Jacob Misiorowski opened with heat. The MLB recap said he threw 11 straight fastballs, the first 102.3 mph to Mookie Betts and the angriest 104.0 to Freddie Freeman, who singled. Will Smith bounced into a 6-4-3, Cooper Pratt to Turang to Jake Bauers. Clean first.

The second was the inning that spent the night. Shohei Ohtani walked on four pitches. Teoscar Hernández singled. Max Muncy struck out. Andy Pages grounded a single through right, Ohtani scoring. 1-0. Kyle Tucker then walked on 10 pitches with four fouls, the Associated Press recap on ESPN said, and the bases were full with one out.

Enrique Hernández bounced into the same 6-4-3. Tucker out at second. Inning over. Still 1-0. The MLB recap put Misiorowski at 35 pitches in that frame, the same grind he had against San Diego in NLDS Game 1.

"Didn't think I had my best stuff," Misiorowski said in the MLB recap. "Obviously good enough to make it work. Props to my defense behind me."

Los Angeles put men on in the third (Betts single) and the fourth (Teoscar single, then a balk that moved him up with Tucker at the plate). Misiorowski struck Tucker out swinging to end the fourth and hopped off the mound. Three pitches later, Turang tied it.

"Yeah, 2-0 sinker, pretty good in," Skubal said in the MLB recap. "It's in the zone, but it's in. I'm gonna tip my hat on a pitch like that. … I'm gonna live with that, left-on-left. He put a good swing on it."

Turang's version was smaller. He told MLB.com he did not want to foul a ball off his knee again, so he stayed inside the pitch and drove it up the middle. "Sometimes less is more." Statcast on the Gameday wrap put the ball at 102.5 mph, 384 feet, 30 degrees. The Associated Press recap called it his second career postseason homer after a 1-for-15 NLCS last year.

Rookies, a bunt, and the lead that held

The fifth was the Milwaukee version of a 103-win season. Garrett Mitchell walked. Pratt bunted him to second. Luis Lara, 21, hit Skubal's first-pitch changeup into center. Mitchell scored. 2-1.

Pat Murphy told MLB.com both Lara and Pratt are up here without having known they would be in the big leagues, and that both are conscientious about getting it done the right way. Joey Ortiz moved Lara to second. Jackson Chourio singled. Turang walked. Bases loaded, two outs. William Contreras flied to Tucker. Skubal left with the deficit at one: five innings, five hits, two earned, two walks, seven strikeouts, 81 pitches, 53 strikes. The loss put him at 1-1.

The MLB recap noted Milwaukee had already scored more runs (two) than in any of the four games of last year's NLCS. The Associated Press recap said the Brewers are among five current clubs that have never won a World Series.

Four arms after 94 pitches

Misiorowski lasted 4 1/3: five hits, one earned, three walks, five strikeouts, 94 pitches, 60 strikes. Betts walked to start the fifth after Kiké had already flied out. That was the walk that ended the start.

DL Hall threw four pitches. Freeman bounced into a 4-6-3, Turang to Pratt to Bauers. The win went to Hall, 2-0. The crowd of 42,617 answered, the Associated Press recap said.

Abner Uribe took the sixth. Ohtani singled. Teoscar struck out. Muncy singled, Ohtani to third. Pages struck out swinging with the tying run 90 feet away. Hold.

Aaron Ashby covered the seventh and eighth. Tucker struck out. Kiké flied to Mitchell. Betts flied to Lara. In the eighth, Freeman popped to Turang, Smith walked, Ohtani popped to Ortiz, Teoscar grounded to third. Two innings, no hits, one walk, one strikeout, 26 pitches. Hold.

Los Angeles still had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the eighth and did not. Chourio singled off Evan Phillips. Tanner Scott took over. Turang bunted Chourio to second. Scott intentionally walked Contreras, struck out Bauers, then intentionally walked Andrew Vaughn to load them. Mitchell grounded to Betts. The 2-1 stayed 2-1.

Trevor Megill opened the ninth with two outs: Muncy popped to Turang, Pages lined to Chourio. Then the walks. Tucker. Pinch-hitter Josue De Paula. Betts, go-ahead run at the plate. The MLB recap said he got a hittable fastball and sent it to center. It sat in Mitchell's glove at the warning track. Save number 3.

"They got their hit," Betts said in the MLB recap. "At some point, we've got to get ours."

Four relievers, two hits, no runs. The Associated Press recap put Los Angeles at 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, nine left on, three double plays, and 2-for-22 in the playoffs. Milwaukee went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven on, per the ESPN box. Alex Vesia picked Bauers off first in the sixth after a walk. Phillips had already struck out the side in the seventh.

Dave Roberts told MLB.com you cannot walk into a long series against the club with the best record in baseball and expect to just win four. He also said they had their chances, and Milwaukee made plays and pitches when it needed to.

Monday, Yamamoto, and a 1-0 series

The MLB recap said Milwaukee is only the fourth club to open a postseason with five straight games decided by two runs or fewer. Game 2 is Monday at American Family Field. Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts for Los Angeles. Logan Henderson starts for Milwaukee.

The Associated Press recap put Yamamoto at 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 postseason appearances, including a three-hitter in a 5-1 win here in last year's NLCS Game 2. Henderson is making his second postseason start after five-plus innings of two-run ball in Milwaukee's 4-3 NLDS Game 2 win over San Diego. The same recap said he went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts against Los Angeles this season.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first club to win three straight World Series since the 1998-2000 Yankees, the Associated Press recap said. Milwaukee has Game 1. It still needs three more.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Milwaukee at 6 team fantasy points on a 2-1. Ashby had 11 pitching FP. Uribe had 8. Misiorowski had 7.33. Turang had 7 hitting FP. Los Angeles sat at -1. Skubal still scored 7 pitching FP in a loss because five innings and seven strikeouts do not vanish when two runs score. Fantasy points measure the night. Share price is what the market pays. They move together, but they are not the same number. See dynamic pricing.

Track the Brewers and Dodgers on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; MLB.com recap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; ESPN recap; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*