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The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 in the opening game of Friday night's National League championship series. The Brewers are now leading the series of best of seven 1-0.
Here are some things to know about the first game.
Kershaw, Grandal wrestling
Clayton Kershaw was arguably the best pitcher of his generation. Yet, one of the flaws of his record is the lack of success after the season. He came in Friday with a 4.08 earned run average in the playoffs, including a 4.75 mark in 10 league games.
Unfortunately for Kershaw, his last start did not help his reputation – partly because it was the shortest of his series career:
Kershaw only lasted three innings while allowing four earned runs on six hits (including a home run) and two walks. He caught only two hitters, which caused a swing and a misfire on his 30 two-shot shots.
Of course, Kershaw was not the only one to blame. His compatriot, Yasmani Grandal, also deserves his share.
Grandal had a particularly ugly third round, during which he made two mistakes and allowed a balloon to pass. One of the mistakes was the intervention of a receiver on what appeared to be an alignment of Jesus Aguilar. Instead, Aguilar was awarded the first goal. Later, Grandal would allow runners to advance and would also have a shot at home to slam his glove. Ouch.
Coincidentally, Grandal was only the second catcher to ever have such a round. The first took place exactly one year ago, when Matt Wieters had committed the same indignity in the fifth match of the LNDS:
This is not the most inspiring evening of Kershaw or Grandal. And although they are not the only Dodgers to fail, their faults were the most outstanding.
Counsell movements (largely) report
Because as cursed as the Dodgers seemed, the opposite was true for the Brewers. Almost all decisions of the manager Craig Counsell seemed to work.
Counsell skilfully managed his pitching staff, eliminating Gio Gonzalez after two innings and rolling with Brandon Woodruff. The move was questionable at the time, as it meant that Woodruff would start the next round. Still, even that turned out well, while Woodruff tied the match with a circuit – yes, he dominated against Clayton Kershaw:
Counsell would then hand over the game to Josh Hader, the left-handed left-hander used to multi-round assignments. Instead of asking for two rounds, Counsell asked for three. Hader delivered, eliminating four points while keeping the Dodgers at bay, as desired.
Along the way, Counsell also made a wise decision by appealing to Domingo Santana. That's Santana who then led the way with a single two-run:
Santana has not had his best year on the offensive, but he has always produced on the bench. In a small sample of 59 appearances on the plate, he hit 0.340 / 0.424 / 0.720 for his career. Santana would even steal a base, the initial call being overturned by the miracle of instant recovery. It was a rare challenge for the Brewers, who struggle in this area:
Overall, it was that kind of party for the Brewers.
The late rally of the Dodgers is insufficient
This is where the "mostly" comes into play from the previous subtitle.
After Hader did his job on three frames, Counsell relaunched the relief carousel in the eighth. He brought Xavier Cedeno, who recorded one and allowed a baserunner. Then Counsell turned to Joakim Soria, who recorded an outing (during a generous strike) and authorized two other baserunners. Finally, Counsell went to see Jeremy Jeffress.
Jeffress made a stop in the first game of the LNDS and almost did the same thing on Friday. He allowed consecutive singles, turning a 6-1 game into a 6-4 contest. Jeffress followed suit by forcing Yasiel Puig to end the threat, but this begged the question: Should Counsell have brought Corey Knebel to start? (Knebel started the ninth goal and almost lost his head, so maybe not.)
Obviously, this question has the advantage of hindsight. Alas, it's the life of a manager – especially one who describes an unconventional strategy in the playoffs.
Yelich has a relatively quiet night
While Lorenzo Cain recorded three hits to lead the Brewers, Christian Yelich, the likely winner of the MVP Award, continued his momentum to extend his series of games on the base. He was hit in all four playoff games in Milwaukee.
It may be interesting to note that Yelich has not managed to reach several times for the first time in the playoffs. He also extended his series without a hit to three games. Given the outcome of the game, he probably agrees with that.
Machado loses his homer
Although lost in the noise and fury produced by the Brewers, it was the Dodgers who opened the scoring – on a laser home run by Manny Machado:
Machado dominated twice in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. He had otherwise struggled lately. Nevertheless, the Dodgers must be encouraged with what he's done with his latest cuts.
By entering Friday, the teams that scored the first goal in the playoffs were almost unbeatable.
Obviously, this was not the case on Friday – but this other statistic, about teams that have hit more home runs are undefeated? This remains true.
Brewers extend their winning streak
With their win in the first game, the Brewers have now won 12 straight games. This goes back to the regular season, of course, but also includes four straight playoffs and NL Central's tiebreaker against the Cubs.
The Brewers won the final game of a series against the Pirates before sweeping the Cardinals and Tigers in three-game playoffs to return to tie and tie the Cubs for the NL Central title. The Brewers then won the tiebreak of Match 163 in order to earn first place before sweeping the Rockies in three games after being occupied with the Cubs in the Wild Card Game. That brings us to 11, and Friday's win in Game 1 makes it 12.
This trend is remarkable for other reasons: Milwaukee residents will enjoy free burgers due to the hot play of their ball club lately.
Brewers lead 1-0
Milwaukee will participate in match 2 of Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 lead in the series at best of seven. What does this mean, based on historical data?
According to the WhoWins website, host teams with 1-0 scores won the series 67.3% of the time. These teams also won the second game more than 55% of the time.
If these trends continue, then the Brewers will be well placed after the first game.
following
The Brewers will welcome the Dodgers for the second game on Saturday. This match will take place at 16:09. AND will be broadcast on Fox. The Brewers will start Wade Miley, the Dodgers will counter with Hyun-Jin Ryu. You can watch the game streaming on fuboTV (Free Trial).
Live updates
CBS Sports will accompany you throughout the update of the latest scores, highlights and analysis of Dodgers Vs. Brewers. If you can not see the live updates below, please click here.
Thank you for being past.
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