The Milwaukee Brewers won game 1 of the National League Championship Series 6:5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brew Crew once again relied on aggressive bullpening and got offensive help from an unusual source.
In the end it was really exciting again. Through a RBI triple with two outs Chris Taylor brought the Dodgers back to a run. But Corey Knebel finally managed a strikeout against Justin Turner and Milwaukee’s opening victory was dramatic.
The Brewers bet for game 1 of the series on a traditional starter in Gio Gonzalez. But the left-hander was used anything but traditionally. He just pitched two innings and gave a home run to Manny Machado.
Already in the third inning it was exchanged against a Pinch-Hitter. This was, however, Relief Pitcher Brandon Woodruff, which is highly unusual. But Woodruff shocked everyone and provided a home run against Clayton Kershaw for the early equalizer.
The Brew Crew took the lead in the same inning and went 2:1 through a Sacrifice Fly from Hernan Perez. A big part of this run was played by Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, who had a Passed Ball and later an Error and a Catcher’s Interference, so that the inning extended unnecessarily and at the same time negated a sensational catch of First Baseman David Freese for the supposed second out before the 2:1.
In the fourth inning then the Dodgers and Kershaw fell apart. Kershaw put the first two hitters on base and both scored on a 2-run single. Then it was over for the left-hander (3+ IP, 4 ER), for whom it was the shortest postseason start ever – a few days after his longest against Atlanta (8 IP). Ryan Madson took over and allowed another run.
The Brewers got two Woodruff no-hit innings and then left-hander Josh Hader tore off three innings (2 H, 4 SO).
In the seventh inning the Brewers added a run by home run through Jesus Aguilar, but then they got into trouble again. With loaded bases and two outs, Closer Jeremy Jeffress came into the game in the eighth inning and gave a 2-run single to Machado and an RBI single to Matt Kemp, but then managed a strikeout against Yasiel Puig.
In the ninth then Knebel came to the train and brought the game just home.
The series will continue on Saturday at 22.09 (live on DAZN).
This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.