Brewers beat Dodgers 7-4 to take 2-0 NLCS lead
MILWAUKEE — William Contreras had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, taking a 2-0 lead in the series.
Los Angeles opened the scoring on a Teoscar Hernández sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Contreras answered with an RBI single in the bottom half. Tommy Edman stole home on a throwing error by Logan Henderson in the third to put the Dodgers back in front, but Christian Yelich gave Milwaukee the lead with a two-run single later in the inning.
The Dodgers pulled even again in the fifth when Kyle Tucker scored on Henderson's second throwing error of the game, and Hernández drove in another run off Dustin May to make it 4-3. Contreras tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run off Kris Bubic, then put the Brewers ahead for good in the sixth with an RBI single off Brock Stewart that scored David Hamilton.
"Our mentality is to stay focused," Contreras said on the Fox broadcast after the game. "It doesn't matter what the game state is, if we're ahead, if we're behind, we want to stay on the aggression and stay focused. We've been able to do a really good job of that as a team."
Asked about Los Angeles pitching to him with a runner on third in the sixth, he added: "That's the decision of their manager. Obviously we have two great managers going head to head here, but thanks to God, God was able to gift me that one, and able to gift me the hit to put us ahead."
Milwaukee added two insurance runs in the eighth. Brice Turang singled home Hamilton, and Jake Bauers followed with a single as Turang scored on a fielding error by Andy Pages.
Henderson allowed four runs, two of them earned, over four innings. Milwaukee's bullpen handled the rest, throwing five scoreless, hitless innings. JoJo Romero picked up the win and Aaron Ashby recorded the final five outs for the save.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings for Los Angeles, and Stewart was charged with the loss. Los Angeles managed just three hits and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, with Shohei Ohtani held hitless in four at-bats. Turang scored three times and Hamilton scored three runs with two stolen bases for the Brewers, who went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
In the ALCS, the Cleveland Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1. The NLCS shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday, with Robert Gasser scheduled to start for Milwaukee against Blake Snell.
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