‘We’re peaking’: Yamamoto spins three-hit gem as Dodgers take 2-0 lead in NLCS | MLB

Relying on an old-school pitching strategy, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers posted two wins after returning to the Fall Classic.

As long as their star rotation can continue to work deep into games, they don’t have to worry about their inconsistent bullpen.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a three-hitter for the first complete postseason game in eight years as the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 Tuesday to extend their lead in the National League Championship Series. Yamamoto’s gem of Game 2 came a night after two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell allowed one hit in eight shutout innings for a 2-1 victory.

“We said before the playoffs started that our starting pitcher was going to be what carried us,” said Max Muncy, who set a Dodgers record by hitting his 14th career postseason home run. “And so far, that’s exactly it.”

It’s a radically different approach than the one the Dodgers took last year, when starting pitchers worked six innings in just two of their 16 playoff games. They have seven quality starts in eight playoff games this year, and their starters own a postseason ERA of 1.54.

This stellar pitching keeps the Dodgers within striking distance of another World Series berth, even with the struggling bullpen and three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani going 2-for-25 at the plate over his last six games.

After winning nine of their last 11 regular season games, the Dodgers are 7-1 in the postseason.

“Our whole team is playing the best baseball we’ve played all year,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The concentration level is at an all-time high and we are peaking at the right time.”

Teoscar Hernández also scored to help the Dodgers leave Milwaukee with a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series, which moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday. Yamamoto allowed a home run to Jackson Chourio on the first of his 111 pitches – 81 strikes – but shut down the Brewers for the rest of the game.

The $325 million right-hander struck out seven and walked one in his first complete game in two major league seasons.

“I reset my mind [after Chourio’s homer] and then I just focused on making my own arguments,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.

The previous postseason starter to go the distance was Justin Verlander when he pitched a five-hitter with 13 strikeouts for Houston against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS on October 14, 2017 – eight years ago to the day.

Yamamoto’s complete match was the first for Los Angeles since Gavin Stone’s gem on June 26 of last year. The last Dodgers pitcher to throw a complete game in the postseason was Jose Lima against St Louis in Game 3 of their 2004 NL Division Series.

“I established my rhythm and then dictated the tempo based on the game,” Yamamoto said. “So it was great.”

This is the first time since 1970 that both LCS road teams have started 2-0. The Seattle Mariners hold a 2-0 lead over Toronto in the ALCS heading into Game 3 Wednesday in Seattle.

Twenty-four of the previous 27 teams that won the first two away games in a best-of-seven series in the 2-3-2 format were victorious. The three teams that came back after losing Games 1 and 2 at home all made the World Series: the 1985 Kansas City Royals against the St. Louis Cardinals, the 1986 New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox, and the 1996 New York Yankees against the Atlanta Braves.

“You could make us count,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “And I understand that 90 percent of the teams that are in that situation don’t win the series. But this team has been counted out a lot this year. And I think they still have a fight left in them.”

The Brewers pulled out all the stops on Tuesday to try to avoid that 2-0 deficit. Former slugger Eric Thames entered the field to exhort fans just before the game and opened his jersey to reveal his bare chest.

Chourio then delighted a sold-out crowd with his fourth career postseason home run, tying Orlando Arcia and Prince Fielder for the Brewers record. It was the fifth leadoff homer of this postseason, tying an MLB mark originally set in 2007.

It seemed like a worrying start for Yamamoto, who lasted only two-thirds of an inning in a 9-1 loss the last time he pitched in Milwaukee. But he bounced back and silenced the Brewers the rest of the way.

The NL Central champions, who led the majors with 97 regular-season wins, have five hits in the series.

“We just have to play better,” said slugger Christian Yelich, who is 0 for 13 in his last four games. “It’s not an ideal start to the series by any means. You just have to keep fighting and find a way to get the offense going again. I have to be better. We have to be better. Those are just facts.”

Los Angeles became the first team to have consecutive postseason starts of at least eight innings in the same series since San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum did it in Games 4 and 5 of the 2010 World Series against Texas.

After Chourio’s homer, the Dodgers wasted no time coming back against Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.

Hernández, whose baseline error contributed to the Brewers’ uncharacteristic 8-6-2 double play in Game 1, sent a 3-2 curveball over the left-field wall for his fourth homer of this postseason. One out later, Kiké Hernández singled and scored on Andy Pages’ double.

Pages had been 1 of 27 in the playoffs before firing his shot into the right corner.

Muncy extended the lead to 3-1 with his two-out homer in the sixth, on Peralta’s 97th and final pitch. The Dodgers added two more runs on RBI singles by Shohei Ohtani in the seventh and Tommy Edman in the eighth.