Original article can be found here.

MILWAUKEE — The team with the best record in the major leagues continues to hand it to the best team money can buy as the Milwaukee Brewers moved two victories away from their first World Series appearance in more than 40 years.

The Brewers’ latest statement came in a 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series as their quest for revenge is halfway to completion.

The Dodgers swept last year’s NLCS by outscoring the Brewers 15-4 on the way to a second consecutive title.

William Contreras delivered a game-tying home run in the fifth inning and a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth as the Brewers took their 2-0 lead in this NLCS while piling on 12 hits.

Contreras drove in a run with each of his three hits while Christian Yelich drove in a pair of runs.

The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

“Our mentality is to stay focused,” Contreras said through an interpreter on the FOX broadcast. “It doesn’t matter what the state of the game is, if we’re ahead, we’re behind. We’re going to stay on the aggression and stay focused. I think we have been able to do a really good job of that as a team.”

Four Milwaukee relievers retired all 15 batters they faced with JoJo Romero (1-1) earning the win with a 1-2-3 sixth and Aaron Ashby picking up his first save of the postseason with 1 2/3 scoreless innings. The bullpen recorded seven of the Brewers’ nine strikeouts.

Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez each had an RBI for the Dodgers, who did not score any runs with the aid of a base hit. They were limited to three hits for the game.

Freeman and Hernandez each had a sacrifice fly while Los Angeles scored a pair of runs on two Logan Henderson throwing errors.

Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout over 75 pitches. Henderson gave up four runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks in four innings for the Brewers.

Unable to catch the Brewers down the stretch of the regular season and secure home-field advantage over Milwaukee, Los Angeles now heads home for potentially three games with a chance to get back into the series.

“Yeah, it’s certainly a challenge,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will have Blake Snell on the mound Wednesday. “I think that, if you look at Game 3, I like where we’re at as far as in a vacuum, who’s pitching, where our bullpen is at, being at home. … But as far as can we do it? Absolutely. You want to get that first one.”

Hernandez gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead in the first with a flyout to center that scored Mookie Betts. Contreras tied the game in the bottom of the first on an RBI single.

The Dodgers moved in front 2-1 in the third when Henderson’s wild pickoff throw to first base allowed Tommy Edman to score from third. The Brewers loaded the bases in their half of the third when Jake Bauers worked a 12-pitch walk against Yamamoto.

Two pitches later, Yelich lined a two-run single to center for a 3-2 lead, ending Yamamoto’s day.

“I was trying to work on the edge of the zone, and some pitches were really good, but he just stayed on it,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter of his pivotal two-out duel with Bauers. “He did a good job.”

The Dodgers tied the score 3-3 in the fifth when Henderson’s throw to first on an Edman bunt was wild, which allowed Kyle Tucker to score. Freeman added his sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead later in the inning.

Contreras crushed a home run to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth to tie the score and added a single to left off Brock Stewart (0-1) in the sixth to score David Hamilton with what became the winning run. Brice Turang and Bauers each had RBI singles in the eighth for a 7-4 lead.

“You come into spring training expecting to be in this series and most likely playing these guys,” Yelich said. “So I don’t think it caught anybody by surprise. We’ve been a confident group all year. And know that if we play clean, we play our game, we can hang with anybody.

“We didn’t really play clean in a lot of our game today, but it’s a credit to the guys for overcoming that.”

–Field Level Media

Original article