The Milwaukee Brewers have taken the lead in the NLCS after beating the Los Angles Dodgers in the first game of the series.
Early Offense
Gio Gonzalez had no trouble getting out of the first inning as he retired the side in order. The Brewers were close to scoring, nonetheless, Clayton Kershaw held them in check. Milwaukee left a man on scoring position. Gonzalez’ second inning was much more different as he struggled on the mound. Manny Machado hit a solo home run to open up the scoring. The Brewers’ pitcher lost command of thee strike zone giving up a walk to Enrique Hernandez. Despite the walk, the Brewers got out of the second inning with no further damage.
Brandon Woodruff came in to relief for the Brewers in the third inning. He did a solid job on his first inning pitching out of the bullpen as he retired the Dodgers in order. Woodruff himself opened up the bottom of the third with a home run off Kershaw to tie the game. Los Angeles kept struggling as mental errors and troubles on the mound loaded up the bases for Milwaukee. Hernan Perez hit a sacrifice fly puting the the Brewers up front. 2-1.
Brewers Took Control Of The Ballgame
Woodruff breezed through the fourth inning, Retiring the side with three strikeouts. Once again, Kershaw struggled on the mound. The Brewers’ offense made him pay for his mistakes this time. Manny Pina worked a walk to open up the inning. Orlando Arcia then followed with a single that seemed relatively harmless until center fielder Cody Bellinger bobbled the play, allowing Pina to reach third base. Domingo Santana then singled, allowing both men on base to reach home. The Brewers were now up by three as the score was 4-1. Ryan Braun hit an RBI single later in the inning to put the Brewers up by four.
Josh Hader came in on relief for Milwaukee to begin the fifth. Hader had no trouble as he retired the side in order striking out two. Dylan Floro came in on relief for the Dodgers replacing Ryan Madson. He retired the side in order as well. Chris Taylor hit a single on the sixth inning as the dodgers tried to start a comeback. Despite his efforts, Hader got out of the sixth easily. Pedro Baez replace Floro on the mound. He left Lorenzo Cain stranded on base.
Down To The Wire
Hader stayed in the game as he came back to pitch for the seventh inning. He kept dominating as the Dodgers were unable to generate any sort of offense despite a single by Matt Kemp. Julio Urias was brought from the bullpen for Los Angeles. The mexican born pitcher was welcomed into the ballgame with a solo homer by Jesus Aguilar. The score was 6-1 as the Brewers kept adding up to their lead.
The Dodgers made one last push to make a comeback on the eighth inning. Los Angeles loaded up the baes with Joakim Soria on the mound. Machado hit a 2 RBI single off reliever Jeremy Jeffress splitting the Brewer lead in half, 6-3. That was followed with an RBI single by Kemp to put the score 6-4.
Corey Knebel came in to close things out for the Brewers in the ninth. He got the first two batter out without much of a problem. He got into trouble giving up a walk to Joc Pederson. The walk was followed with a triple by Taylor, Milwaukee’s lead was shrunk to a single run. Once again, despite their efforts on offense, the Dodgers came up short as Justin Turner struck out for the final out of the game. Final score: 6-5.
Brewers and Dodgers will clash agin this Saturday. Game two starts at 4:09 PM E.T on FOX.