MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Dodgers rode a great starting-pitching performance to a win in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
The Milwaukee Brewers hope ace right-hander Freddy Peralta can deliver a similar effort as they look to level the best-of-seven series in Game 2 on Tuesday.
Peralta (1-1, 4.66 ERA postseason) will be opposed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 2.53).
The defending champion Dodgers hung on to take the opener 2-1 on Monday after Blake Snell threw eight innings of scoreless, one-hit ball. Freddy Freeman’s sixth-inning solo homer accounted for all the scoring until the Dodgers added a run in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk.
The Brewers answered with a run in the bottom half, but they left the bases loaded when Blake Treinen fanned Brice Turang for the final out.
“That run in the top of the ninth was huge, obviously 20-20 hindsight,” Freeman said postgame. “But getting on the road in an environment and taking the first one, it’s huge. You can’t understate that at all. Just kind of how we did it in (the NL Division Series at) Philly. To get the first one, and you turn it over to Yoshi tomorrow and we’re obviously feeling pretty good.”
Peralta was 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA during the regular season, leading the National League in victories. He recorded a 1-1 record with a 3.52 ERA in five September starts, but he went past five innings just once in the month.
Peralta fired 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the NLDS, then lost Game 4 after permitting three runs in four innings on Thursday.
“I like our chances when he’s out there,” teammate Christian Yelich said postgame Monday night. “He’s a great pitcher and gives a shot to win. So now, flush this one and get ready for tomorrow.”
Peralta is 4-2 with a 3.27 ERA in eight career regular-season starts vs. the Dodgers. He won both his starts against them this season, allowing four runs in 11 innings.
Peralta also faced the Dodgers once each as a reliever in the 2018 NLCS and in a 2020 NL wild-card series, throwing a combined four innings and yielding one run.
Yamamoto finished 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA in 30 starts during the regular season. He faced the Brewers for the first time this season, and it was the shortest outing of his two-year career. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning on July 7 in Milwaukee, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits and two walks in a 9-1 loss.
Yamamoto has allowed five runs, three earned, in 10 2/3 innings in his two postseason starts. His last time out, he allowed three runs on six hits in four innings in an 8-2 loss to the Phillies in the NLDS on Wednesday.
Los Angeles starters have a 1.65 ERA during the postseason, having limited opponents to a .141 batting average.
“I think we’ve been saying it for about a month now going into the postseason: Our starting pitching is what has made us play better going into October,” Freeman said. “We always were talking about how we’re playing our best baseball leading up to this postseason, and it started with our pitching staff. “
The Brewers were 6-0 in the regular season against the Dodgers, sweeping home-and-away three-game series.
Of the 17 teams that won the first two games of the NLCS under the current best-of-seven format, 14 went on to advance to the World Series.
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
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