One night after Blake Snell went eight innings in a Game 1 win to start the National League Championship Series, his teammate did him one better Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed Snell’s eight scoreless by delivering the first complete game from a Dodgers starter in a postseason outing since Jose Lima in 2004, going the distance in a 5-1 win in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Another dominant outing from a Dodgers starter
The last time Yamamoto was on the mound, the Phillies won their only game of the NLDS. They blitzed him for six hits and three runs and chased him after just four innings.
The last time he was on the mound against the Brewers specifically, he didn’t make it out of the first. That outing, during which he allowed five runs and six baserunners without recording a strikeout, was his worst of the year. But Yamamoto was a Cy Young contender this year for a reason. He has a tendency of bouncing back when a start doesn’t go his way.
And boy, did he. After surrendering a home run on the first pitch of the game, Yamamoto locked in, spending the rest of the night flummoxing the Brewers’ bats. Milwaukee didn’t score again, as he surrendered just three hits and a walk while striking out seven in a complete game.
The Dodgers’ rotation, which was by far the best in baseball from the start of August through the end of the year once the group got whole and healthy again, has taken its dominance into October, logging a 1.54 ERA as a group.
The Dodgers have gotten quality starts in seven of their eight games to start the playoffs, and Yamamoto and Snell are now the first Dodgers starters to deliver at least eight innings in back-to-back playoff games since 1988, when Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher also accomplished the feat in the first two games of the NLCS.
2. Max Muncy gets just enough this time for a historic blast
In Game 1, Muncy came feet away from a grand slam when Sal Frelick brought the 404-foot blast back into play, initiating a crazy 8-6-2 double play. Muncy got his revenge in Game 2, adding 10 more feet of distance this time to send a solo home run out to center field.
It gave the Dodgers some breathing room in the sixth inning and gave him his 14th career postseason home run, the most in franchise history — quite an accomplishment for a player who was released by the Athletics seven years ago.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta pleaded his case to stay in for the inning, despite the Dodgers’ order coming up a third time through. He was one pitch away from a clean inning until Muncy’s blast. This Dodgers offense looks a lot different when Muncy is in it — in games he has started this year (including the postseason), the Dodgers are 60-35 this year.
3. Jackson Chourio also makes homer history for the Brewers
Chourio ambushed the first pitch of the game, a 97-mph fastball at the bottom of the zone from Yamamoto, and sent it the other way 106.4 mph off the bat for a solo home run. It was the 21-year-old’s second home run of the postseason and fourth of his playoff career, already tying Prince Fielder and Orlando Arcia for the most in Brewers history. Juan Soto is the only player in MLB history with more postseason homers than Chourio before turning 22 (Soto had five).
Chourio, who knocked in the Brewers’ only run in each of the first two games of the series, doesn’t turn 22 until March 11. His power is all the more important for a Brewers team that ranked 22nd in home runs this season.
4. Shohei Ohtani finally on the board, but bottom of lineup carries Dodgers
Ohtani went just 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts in the National League Division Series. A lot of that was chalked up to facing the dominant left-handed trio of Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo and Ranger Suárez, and he figured to have more success this round. But after going 0-for-2 with three walks in Game 1, he was still looking for his first hit of the NLCS when he stepped to the plate in his fourth at-bat of the night with Kike Hernandez on third base in the seventh.
Ohtani pulled an RBI single to right field, getting him off the schneid. He’s still in quite a rut, though. After homering twice in the wild-card series, he is just 2-for-25 since the start of the NLDS. On Tuesday, it was the bottom of the Dodgers’ order getting it done, showcasing the reigning champions’ depth. Seven of the Dodgers’ 11 hits came from hitters six through nine in the order.
Shohei Ohtani hasn’t been putting in his usual MVP-caliber performances in this series. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
4 ½. Teoscar Hernández makes up for Game 1 baserunning gaffe
So, about that crazy double play in Game 1…
It was Hernández who was thrown out at the plate inexplicably, going to tag from third, starting to go when the ball hit Frelick’s glove, then retreating to tag again, allowing time for the Brewers’ relay to get him. On Tuesday, he took accountability for the mistake.
Teoscar Hernandez had a seemingly redeeming home run in Game 2. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
“I don’t think there’s going to be any explanation that is going to be accurate,” Hernández said. “There’s nobody to blame but myself. “
His bat has a tendency to make up for any other shortcomings in his game, and it did so again one night after his baserunning gaffe when he tied the game with a solo homer in the second, quieting a crowd at American Family Field that had gotten into the game quickly on Chourio’s first-inning blast. There wasn’t anything to cheer about the rest of the night.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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