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MILWAUKEE – Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations, scurried down the staircase Sunday night with several of his staff members as blaring chants from the crowd in the American Family Field concourse pierced his ears.

Let’s Go Brewers.

Let’s. Go. Brewers.

LET’S! GO! BREWERS!

Friedman descended into the Dodgers' clubhouse after the Milwaukee Brewers' 7-4 victory where there was nothing but dead silence.

The Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions, are on the ropes.

They boarded the team bus at 8:20 p.m. local time for the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport for a return flight to Los Angeles, trying to make sense of what just happened.

The Dodgers certainly weren’t taking the Brewers for granted, not after winning 103 games this season, but they never imagined that their high-powered offense would be suffocated like this, trailing the Brewers 2 games to 0, with their dynasty on the brink.

“It’s hard to win,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame shortstop Mookie Betts said, “when you get only three hits.’’

“It’s tough to hit,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame first baseman Freddie Freeman said, “when their bullpen is throwing 100 mph with different arm angles.’’

“It’s just tough to beat those guys,’’ Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “They play hard. They never give up. You know, they play clean baseball. That’s the thing, we’ve got to play a better game.’’

The Dodgers spent $163 million on the back end of their bullpen the past two years. The Milwaukee Brewers did not.

So two games into the National League Championship Series, guess which team’s relief corps has been lights out and which one has been lit up? (Spoiler alert: it’s not the team with all the money.)

Milwaukee sent a parade of four relievers to the mound for a second straight game Monday, and for a second straight game they didn’t give up a run, retiring the last 15 Dodgers in order in a 7-4 win that gives Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which moves to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers’ bullpen has pitched 9 2/3 innings in the series, yielding just two hits — both off Abner Uribe — and three walks. That’s it. Both wins have gone to relievers, DL Hall in the opener and JoJo Romero in Game 2.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

Dodger relievers, meanwhile, have pitched 9 1/3 innings in the two games, giving up four runs on nine hits. Reliever Brock Stewart took the loss Monday.

In a series that’s rapidly shaping up as a battle of the bullpens, the Dodgers clearly aren’t getting what they paid for.

“I don’t have an answer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shrugged when asked why the Dodgers relievers have struggled while the Brewers have shined. “I know that they’ve got good arms; so do we. I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”

Slugger Max Muncy has a theory on the same question.

“They’re really good,” he said.

The Brewers’ 48 bullpen wins was the most in baseball during the regular season and its 3.40 ERA was best in the National League. And it has been even better in the postseason, giving up just one earned run in 28 2/3 innings against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres. In the divisional era (since 1969), only the 1991 Minnesota Twins have a lower bullpen ERA through six playoff games and with a reliever earning the victory in all five of Milwaukee’s postseason wins, the Brewers have done something only the 2014 Kansas City Royals had done previously.

“There’s a reason they’re where they’re at right now and the bullpen’s a big piece of that,” Muncy said. “If there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys. But when they’re as good as they are, I don’t know how much that helps.

“They’re all throwing 100 [mph] plus and they all have really nasty stuff.”

Especially Aaron Ashby, who has pitched in both games, holding the Dodgers to a walk in 3 2/3 innings, striking out three. He’s the Brewers’ best-paid reliever, earning $5.5 million this season.

The Dodgers have three relievers making at least twice that — and one of them, Blake Treinen, didn’t even make the postseason roster. One of the others, Tanner Scott, gave up twice as many runs in his first postseason appearance as the Brewers’ bullpen has given up this month.

“They attack the hitters,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said of Milwaukee’s relievers. “They throw strikes. They got good stuff. They throw hard. We’ve just got to do a better job.”

Hernández then echoed Muncy in pointing out the Dodgers have now seen six of Milwaukee’s nine relievers, with Ashby and Uribe throwing in both games. And while the Dodgers haven’t done anything against them yet, that familiarity could help going forward.

“We know what we’re going to get,” Hernández said.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded the point — sort of.

“Familiarity, as the numbers tell us, does provide an edge,” he said. “So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re one-inning guys.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

“Can’t always do that.”

Sometimes you can, though. Uribe, who has appeared in all six Brewers games this postseason, has already faced eight Dodger hitters in the series, but only one of them, Andy Pages, twice. And when he does face someone a second time, Murphy said with a smile, who’s to say he’ll him pitch the same way?

“Uribe might have something up his sleeve based on how those other times went,” he said. “Like, well, I never gave him this.’”

That would count as a surprise. However the dominant performance of the Brewers’ bargain-basement bullpen would not. Because even in baseball, the Dodgers are finding out, there are some things money can’t buy.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This time, Jose Ramírez didn’t hit a majestic home run to decide the game. An innocent infield dribbler was enough to light an eighth-inning fuse that sent the Cleveland Guardians to a startling 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Nathaniel Lowe’s line-drive single up the middle drove in Ramírez and Chase DeLauter with the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth and the Guardians struck for seven runs over the final four innings of the game to stun the Rays, who took a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

Yet from there, DeLauter and Ramírez - who each had three hits - and Cleveland’s pitching staff took over.

DeLauter hit an opposite-field homer to cut the Guardians’ deficit in half and then doubled in the eighth for his third hit, the rookie setting the stage for Lowe’s heroics.

In the ninth, Ramírez tacked on an RBI single off reliever Cole Sulser and Joe Adell rapped a two-out, two-run double for the Guardians' final runs. 

That decisive eighth inning began with right-hander Tyler Wells on the mound and he induced a soft grounder from Ramírez. But it bunny-hopped along the Tropicana Field turf long enough for Ramírez to scamper to first base.

After DeLauter’s double and a groundout, Wells was lifted for lefty Ian Seymour. But Lowe, who was drafted by the Rays and spent the first two years of his career in Tampa Bay, sent a fastball right back up the middle to plate the go-ahead runs.

MILWAUKEE — Some people play do crossword puzzles for fun, other people listen to podcasts. Jake Bauers works opposing team's aces until their arms are ready to fall off.

Bauers drew a 12-pitch walk off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, Oct. 12. His at-bat lasted more than seven minutes, and he'd fouled off six pitches before finally getting the fourth ball.

"It was a blast, honestly. It was a blast. Any time you can get that locked in doing anything, it's, to me, one of the most enjoyable experiences I think a human being can have," Bauers said after the game, a 7-4 win that gives the Milwaukee Brewers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Another Brewers playoff game, another nine innings filled with stress and heightened blood pressure across the state of Wisconsin. Game 2 of the NLCS was a back and forth affair, with both teams scoring in the first, third, and fifth innings. But it was once again the Brewers who came out on top 7-4.

The Dodgers were able to strike first without the benefit of a base hit. Mookie Betts was able to overturn a strikeout with an ABS challenge and then work a walk from it. He then reached second on a grounder from Freddie Freeman and a wild pitch from Logan Henderson allowed Betts to reach third. Teoscar Hernandez’s job was simple and he did it, lifting a sacrifice fly to center and it was 1-0 Dodgers.

But the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half. Brice Turang ripped a double down the left field line and then William Contreras drove him in with a single to tie the game at 1-1.

Then in the 3rd, the Dodgers were able to get another run after a Cooper Pratt misplay at shortstop turned what could’ve been a double play ball into a single with runners now at the corners. Henderson then made a poor pickoff attempt at first and the ball got away, allowing the Dodgers to take the lead again.

Once more, the Brewers answered right back. David Hamilton started the rally with a single and then stole second base. Brice Turang then walked to put two runners on. Jake Bauers then had the at-bat of the night against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, working a 12 pitch at-bat that culminated in a walk.

“That changes the game. We’ve seen him do that before… Yeah, you think about that and what it does to a pitcher. He can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He’s one of the best pitchers in the land. It was a great at-bat. I think a turning point, I really do.” Pat Murphy said.

“Yeah, it just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode. A little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow a little bit competing.” Bauers said.

That loaded the bases for the Captain, Christian Yelich, who delivered the big hit.

After going multiple years without an RBI in the postseason, Yelich has come through a couple of times for the Brewers this year.

However, the Dodgers would still answer back in the 5th inning. After Henderson had retired six straight, Kyle Tucker led off with a double. Then Tommy Edman dropped a sacrifice bunt down to get Tucker to third, but Henderson sailed the throw to first base, allowing the run to score and Edman to reach second base. Pat Murphy was out to make the pitching change immediately.

Dustin May came in and settled things down, though he did allow a sacrifice fly to Freeman that brought in Edman and gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Jackson Chourio did make it close, though. The Brewers challenged the safe call, but were unsuccessful.

But just like the first and third innings, the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half, with William Contreras supplying the very loud answer.

“He’s a pitbull” Logan Henderson said.

Then, finally, the Brewers were able to score without having to make it an answer to the Dodgers. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Hamilton led things off with a hit by pitch. He then reached second on a failed pickoff attempt. Hamilton moved to third on a ground ball to the right side by Chourio. With the go-ahead run on third, the Dodgers chose to intentionally walk Brice Turang to face William Contreras.

A bold strategy that did not pay off. Contreras jumped all over the first pitch and lifted a single to put the Brewers on top for good.

Contreras becomes just the fourth player in MLB history to hit three game-tying or go-ahead base hits in a single postseason game. He joins George Brett, Steve Garvey, and Sandy Alomar Jr on that list.

“Fourth guy ever? Seems pretty good.” Cooper Pratt said.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was absolutely carving up the Dodgers lineup. After Dustin May came in to relieve Henderson two batters into the fifth inning, the Dodgers did not get a single baserunner. It was five perfect innings to finish out the game

“I don’t know that you’re necessarily planning to do that, that’d be awesome if you could. We’re in a really good spot right now with the way things are going in our bullpen.” Aaron Ashby said.

Abner Uribe was able to get four outs, he set up Aaron Ashby to get five outs to end the game. The Brewers were able to avoid using Trevor Megill for a second consecutive night.

The Brewers also added some insurance runs in the 8th inning to finally extend the run differential to more than two runs for the first time this postseason. David Hamilton singled and stole second, then Brice Turang singled to add the first insurance run. Contreras then walked and Jake Bauers singled home a second run to make it 7-4.

A little breathing room went a long way as the Brewers now extend their series lead to 2-0 over the Dodgers. They are just two wins away from the World Series and are at the very least guaranteed a return trip home to play at American Family Field.

The series now pivots to Los Angeles for Game 3. Robert Gasser will get the start for the Brewers and look to put the Brewers up 3-0 over LAD and further confirm their control over this series.

Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras’ mitt.

Betts had been setting the tone from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB’s best starting pitchers. But there wasn’t much even he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe’s.

Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the home crowd roared.

Then, with Dodgers left-handed hitter Freddie Freeman coming up to the plate, the Brewers had an answer for him, too. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, and left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged, and he struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.

Read more:Commentary: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

“They all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.

Those back-to-back strikeouts in the eighth inning were part of five perfect innings thrown by the Brewers bullpen — an MLB postseason record. And the Dodgers’ inability to rally against the Brewers’ relievers, paired with the shortest start in Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s career, sunk the Dodgers’ chances at evening the series.

The NLCS heads to Los Angeles with the Brewers leading 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

The Dodgers’ performance against the Brewers bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn’t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.

Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic after the game that he would “have a conversation” with Ohtani Tuesday to determine “what’s best for him, what’s best for [the team].”

Factoring into the decision of whether the situation has become dire enough to bench Ohtani is an understanding that the superstar designated hitter likely is not completely healthy, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Ohtani has dealt with left knee and right biceps issues for much of the year. But it’s been difficult since he returned from the injured list to determine whether health, bad swing habits caused by earlier injuries, or some combination of the two have been to blame for his poor performance.

Ohtani hasn’t addressed the media since the day before Game 1 of the NLDS.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Best laid plans went awry very early in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, the sloppiest and wildest game of the Dodgers postseason to date. In a game with four lead changes and two ties, the Dodgers couldn’t get a big hit to save their life, while William Contreras had three different run-scoring hits in the Brewers’ 7-4 win at American Family Field on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee.

The Dodgers head home to Los Angeles down two games to none, with their largest series deficit since the 2023 NLDS.

Chaos to start

It took until the 23rd half-inning of the series for one of these teams to score more than once in a frame, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Both Jacob Misiorowski and Tarik Skubal labored in big innings in Game 1, but limited the damage to just one run in the rallies.

After single runs for both teams in the first inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto ran into trouble. David Hamilton singled and stole second base. Brice Turang, who battled back from an 0-2 count and an unchallenged potential third-strike ball call for a double to score in the first inning, worked his way back from an 0-2 count again to walk in the third.

With two outs and two on, first baseman Jake Bauers fouled off six full-count pitches before earning a walk to load the bases.

“Yamamoto — it’s such a big pitch mix,” Bauers said during his media availability before the game. “There’s a lot that you have to try and deal with, and I think you can fall into the trap of trying to guess along with him.”

It took only two more pitches for Yamamoto to hang a curveball to Christian Yelich — in easily the worst of his 14 major league seasons — who singled home two to turn a Dodgers lead into a Dodgers deficit. It also ended Yamamoto’s day, stunningly after needing 75 pitches to get only eight outs, the shortest of his 11 postseason start with the Dodgers.

The dozen pitches to Bauers were the most in any single plate appearance in Yamamoto’s three years in the majors, the entire battle taking seven minutes, 15 seconds per the Fox broadcast.

Only way the Dodgers scored

Brewers starter Logan Henderson allowed only three hits, one of them a ball booted by shortstop Cooper Pratt. Henderson also walked two, but it was three errant throws that proved his undoing. His wild pitch in the first inning put Mookie Betts on third base directly before scoring on a sacrifice fly.

Henderson in the third inning with runners on the corners threw wildly on a pickoff attempt of Betts at first base, allowing Tommy Edman to score from third base. After Kyle Tucker doubled to lead off the fifth inning, Henderson had another throwing error when Edman tried to sacrifice, not only scoring Tucker but putting Edman on second base. He would later score on another sacrifice fly, on a play so close at the plate it required replay review to confirm.

Getting the big hits, or not

Contreras, the Brewers three-time All-Star catcher, singled home a run off Yamamoto in the first inning to tie the game, homered off left-hander Kris Bubic in the fifth inning to tie the game, then singled home a run off Brock Stewart in the sixth to give the Brewers the lead.

It was the third multi-hit game in these playoffs for Contreras, who has three home runs this October.

The Dodgers’ three-time All-Star catcher, Will Smith, was dropped to fifth in the batting order on Monday and was hitless in four at-bats. Smith has one single in 23 at-bats this postseason, with eight strikeouts.

“Obviously want the results to be a little better, but at the end of the day, it’s [six] games at the plate,” Smith told reporters in Milwaukee on Monday before Game 2. “No panic from me. So I’ll be fine.”

Smith isn’t alone in struggles at the plate.

Shohei Ohtani, still batting fourth, was hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts in Game 2, and has three singles in 19 at-bats plus three walks this postseason.

The Brewers tacked on insurance runs in the eighth inning off Edgardo Henriquez and Justin Wrobleski with three singles and a walk. That put the Brewers up 7-4, the first time either team led by more than one run in this series.

Game 2 of the NLCS was just the second of 27 games this postseason in which both teams scored at least four runs.

Against Henderson the Dodgers were hitless in all of four total at-bats with runners in scoring position, dropping them to 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position this postseason. But once he left with no outs in the fifth inning, the Brewers bullpen completely shut things down the rest of the way.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby faced 15 batters and retired them all. Ashby pitched in multiple innings for a second straight day, this time earning the save.

The Dodgers now face a major uphill battle once they get back home.

NLCS Game 2 particulars

Home run: William Contreras (3)

WP — JoJo Romero (1-1): 1 IP 2 strikeouts

LP — Brock Stewart (0-1): 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Sv — Aaron Ashby (1): 1 2/3 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The NLCS moves location to Los Angeles beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday evening (5 p.m., FS1). Blake Snell probably starts for the Dodgers, though Dave Roberts earlier Monday wasn’t willing to confirm their plans just yet. Left-hander Robert Gasser starts on the mound for the Brewers.

MILWAUKEE — Now do you believe in the Milwaukee Brewers?

Do you believe that there was no fluke that the Brewers won 103 games this season, the most in the major leagues?

Now, do you believe the Brewers are on their way to reaching the World Series for the first time since 1982, and trying to win their first in franchise history?

Well, the entire state of Wisconsin sure does, watching their beloved Brewers rolling out the barrel over the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4 Monday afternoon, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series in front of a frenzied sellout crowd at American Family Field.

Exclusive: 'Who doesn't like beer?' How Brewers owner built model MLB franchise

This is the first time in the Brewers 58-year history that they have ever taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.

The last time the Dodgers won a postseason series when trailing 2 games to 0 was in the COVID postseason of 2020 when they came back to beat Atlanta, and ultimately won their first World Series since 1988.

But in a full season, the Dodgers haven’t managed to pull off the feat since the 1981 World Series against the New York Yankees.

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