The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Sunday night in a National League Championship Series rematch that fans had waited a year to see, taking the opening game of the series.

The moment that decided it

Rookie Luis Lara lined a first-pitch changeup from Tarik Skubal up the middle to score Garrett Mitchell. Mitchell had drawn a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Cooper Pratt sacrifice bunt. The Brewers took a fifth-inning lead on a manufactured run and held it for the rest of the game, a fitting picture of how they reached the NLCS. It also served as an early sign that this is not the same Milwaukee team that Los Angeles swept last year.

Game 1 star: the bullpen

Milwaukee’s relievers were outstanding. DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined to throw 4⅔ scoreless innings and escaped several difficult situations with composure. Ashby deserves special credit. He covered two innings and induced a pair of infield popups in the eighth, one from Freddie Freeman and one from Shohei Ohtani.

The stat that defined the game

The Brewers turned three double plays. Jacob Misiorowski struggled early, but Milwaukee’s defence bailed him out with 6-4-3 double plays to end the first and second innings. After Misiorowski left in the fifth, Hall induced another inning-ending double play to snuff out a potential rally.

What it means for the series

This is only the second time since the Dodgers’ championship-winning run began in 2024 that they have lost the opening game of a playoff series. The first was the World Series last year, when they recovered to beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. Yamamoto starts Game 2 on Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and Los Angeles faces a 2-0 series deficit against a team that has proved it belongs at this level.

Key moments from Milwaukee’s win

Milwaukee was three outs from victory in the ninth inning. Brice Turang tied the game for the Brewers earlier on, before Lara’s go-ahead hit. Skubal struck out six through the first three innings, while Misiorowski threw a fastball clocked at 102 mph. Uribe stranded two runners to keep Milwaukee in front, striking out a key hitter to end the threat.