Dodgers 4, Brewers 2
NL Wild Card, Game One
Right fielder Mookie Betts hit two doubles and shortstop Corey Seager hit the longest Dodger Stadium home run of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2, Wednesday night. Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich and center fielder Avisail Garcia each had two hits of their own in Game One of the best-of-three Wild Card Series.
Dodgers Take Early Lead
Dodgers starter Walker Buehler threw a 1-2-3 top of the first. Brewers starter Brent Suter had control problems in the bottom of the inning. After a leadoff double by right fielder Mookie Betts, Suter walked four of the next six batters. This brought in two runs, giving the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead. Suter wasn’t missing by much, though. According to Seager, “We were taking pitches we needed to, getting into good counts. Then we were trying to get a good pitch to swing and not expand the strike zone.” The eighth hitter in the inning – DH Edwin Rios – grounded to second for the third out, leaving three on base.
After the Brewers had one runner reach in the second with nothing to show for it, the Dodgers added a run. Second baseman Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the inning with a double and scored when Betts followed with his second double of the game. A lineout and flyout by shortstop Corey Seager and third baseman Justin Turner, respectively, brought up first baseman Max Muncy with two gone. He walked, Suter’s fifth of the game. Manager Craig Counsell had seen enough, so he brought Eric Yardley in for long relief. Yardley got catcher Will Smith on a fly to the track in right, retiring the side with the Brewers trailing, 3-0.
Brewers Narrow the Gap
Given that the Brewers had allowed eight baserunners in the first two innings, the fact that they only trailed by three had to feel like a small victory. It had to feel even better in the fourth, when a one-out double by DH Daniel Vogelbach set the table for shortstop Orlando Arcia, who came up two hitters later. On 0-2, he sent a deep drive to left-center that sailed over the fence for a two-run homer. Buehler said after the game, “I had him 0-2. I can’t miss that much – it’s supposed to be up above his belt, and I threw it about as middle-middle as I could.”
Meanwhile, Yardley and the next reliever, Justin Topa, were magnificent. They combined to hold the league’s most potent offense to one hit and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. “(They) did a heck of a job picking us up and keeping us in the game,” Suter said. “Despite pitching about as (badly) as I’ve ever pitched, we still had a chance to win. That was a cool feeling having teammates pick us up.” Left-handed Dodgers reliever Julio Urias also pitched well, scattering three hits across the fifth, sixth, and seventh while striking out five.
Dodgers Tack One On, Slam Door
Freddy Peralta took the mound as the nailbiter entered the bottom of the seventh. Betts led off with a fly to the track in left for a loud first out. Seager came up next and launched a prodigious drive to center. It left the bat at 108 mph, cleared the center-field fence, and landed 447 feet away – the longest ball hit in Dodger Stadium all season. The solo home run gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead and some breathing room.
Blake Treinen shut the Brewers down in the top of the eighth, and Drew Rasmussen did the same to the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning. Both gave up a hit with two outs, but neither amounted to anything.
That brought up the top of the ninth. Kenley Jansen took the mound. He got third baseman Eric Sogard to fly to center and second baseman Keston Hiura to ground to short. Left-handed Jace Peterson pinch-hit for catcher Jacob Nottingham and walked, bringing up Yelich as the tying run. On 2-2, Jansen uncorked an eye-level cutter. Yelich swung and missed, giving the Dodgers the Game One victory.
Outlook
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterwards, “I thought it was a pretty clean game. We weathered the two-run homer and tacked on a run late. I thought the pitching was really good tonight, and it’s a playoff win.” Suter gave the Dodgers credit as well, saying, “They did a good job laying off pitches that I normally get swings at – foul balls at least, strikes. (You’ve) gotta tip your hat to them…. They did a good job putting the pressure on.”
Suter continued, “They’re a really disciplined team. When it was in the zone, they were taking good swings. When it was off, they were laying off. That’s a good lineup – a good team. We knew it was a challenge. I just wish I would have made them beat me a little bit more tonight.”
Counsell added about Suter, whose five walks in the game equaled the total amount he had given up all season, “It was very uncharacteristic. Frankly, we’ve never seen an outing from Brent like that. It was an odd outing from him.”
Game Two will feature Brandon Woodruff (3-5, 3.05 ERA) as the Brewers starter and lefty Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.16 ERA) for the Dodgers. The game will start at 7:08 pm Pacific Time Thursday night on ESPN.
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