Oct. 14, 2025
By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Blake Snell was injured and unavailable to pitch in July when the Los Angeles Dodgers lost all six of their regular-season meetings with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Facing the Brewers for the first time this year in the National League Championship Series, the two-time Cy Young Award winner showed just how much of a difference he can make.
Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before Los Angeles’ bullpen barely held on as the Dodgers opened the NLCS with a 2-1 victory Monday night. Brewers manager Pat Murphy called it perhaps the most dominant performance he’s seen by an opposing pitcher in the 10 years he’s been on Milwaukee’s staff.
“It was a masterpiece tonight,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning solo homer broke a scoreless tie.
The 32-year-old Snell struck out 10 and walked none. He’s yielded two runs over 21 innings in his first postseason with the Dodgers after they signed him to a five-year, $182 million contract.
“Even playing against them, watching, it was just always in the back of my mind, like, I wanted to be a Dodger and play on that team,” Snell said. “To be here now, it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t wish for anything more. I’m just going to do the best I can to help us win a World Series.”
Los Angeles’ shaky bullpen nearly wasted Snell’s brilliant effort.
Trailing 2-0 to start the ninth, the Brewers scored a run off rookie Roki Sasaki and later loaded the bases before Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang to end the game.
“That’s kind of what you envision in the playoffs. You’re on the edge of your seat for all nine innings,” Freeman said. “That was a massive first win on the road for us in the NLCS.”
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching for Los Angeles against Freddy Peralta in a matchup of All-Stars.
The Dodgers led 2-0 when they handed the ball to Sasaki in the ninth after Snell had thrown 103 pitches. Snell didn’t try to talk manager Dave Roberts into letting him pitch the ninth.
“I felt I could have,” Snell said. “But I trust Dave. He knows what’s best for the team.”
Sasaki had worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the postseason while adjusting to a bullpen role, but he wasn’t nearly as sharp Monday.
Isaac Collins drew a one-out walk and pinch-hitter Jake Bauers smacked a ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall. Jackson Chourio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside.
That’s when Roberts removed Sasaki and brought in Treinen.
Yelich stole second to move the potential winning run into scoring position before William Contreras walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside. After Treinen nearly hit Turang in the leg with a pitch — which would have tied the game — Turang struck out swinging at a neck-high fastball.
“You turn your leg, you wear it,” Turang said. “Just like a natural reaction to get out of the way. The last pitch, he’s a big sinker guy. He threw a four-seamer up at the top. That’s just what it is. You move on. As much as it sucks, you move on.”
The save marked a step forward for Treinen, who posted a 9.64 ERA in September and allowed two runs and three hits in one inning during the Division Series against Philadelphia.
“Today was fun,” Treinen said. “I think we’ve been putting in a lot of work to try to get some things in a better place with myself. Today I thought I executed almost every pitch.”
This NLCS is a study in contrasts, with the Brewers playing in MLB’s smallest market while the defending World Series champion Dodgers have the most expensive roster in the game.
Murphy referenced the difference in star power between the two teams by joking during his pregame news conference that “I’m sure that most Dodger players can’t name eight guys on our roster.”
On this night, no star shined brighter than Snell. He allowed only one hit — a leadoff single by Caleb Durbin in the third.
Durbin got picked off, and Snell retired his final 17 batters. He became the first pitcher to face the minimum 24 batters through eight innings in a postseason game since Don Larsen tossed his perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.
Snell also is the only starter in postseason history to throw eight innings with at least 10 strikeouts, zero walks and no more than one hit allowed.
“When you have a starting rotation like we have that are healthy and feeling good about themselves, it’s going to be tough,” Freeman said.
Freeman put Los Angeles ahead for good when he connected on a full-count pitch from Chad Patrick and sent a shot so high that it got tantalizingly close to the American Family Field roof before barely clearing the right-field wall.
Patrick was coming off an outstanding NL Division Series in which he struck out six and allowed no baserunners over 4 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers added what ended up being an essential insurance run in the ninth when Mookie Betts drew a bases-loaded walk from Abner Uribe on a 3-2 pitch outside.
Bizarre double play with bases loaded takes away run opportunity for Dodgers
Los Angeles also wasted numerous scoring opportunities, most notably on a bizarre 8-6-2 double play that was inches away from becoming a Max Muncy grand slam.
Little did he know his 404-foot drive instead would end the top of the fourth inning Monday night in one of the most incredible plays of this or any postseason.
“It’s definitely the worst fielder’s choice/double play I’ve ever hit in my life,” Muncy said after the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1.
Here’s how Muncy’s potential grand slam turned into an unusual 8-6-2 double play:
With the bases loaded and one out, Muncy hit a long drive to center field, where Sal Frelick jumped and reached over the wall in an attempt to make the catch.
The ball popped out of Frelick’s glove and hit the top of the fence before Frelick caught it in the air. Muncy wasn’t ruled out because the ball hit the wall — but the Dodgers’ runners scrambled back to their bases thinking the ball was caught on a fly.
“I didn’t see it hit the wall,” said Will Smith, who was on second base. “I just thought he kind of brought it back in and caught it.”
Frelick fired to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who quickly relayed a strike to catcher William Contreras. Aware a force was still in effect, Contreras alertly stretched for the throw with his right foot on home plate, rather than position himself for a tag that would have been necessary if the ball hadn’t hit the wall.
Contreras caught the ball before Teoscar Hernández slid across the plate, forcing out Hernández after he had hesitated at third base.
“Teo knows the rule. I think right there he had just a little bit of a brain fart, appreciating that when it does hit the glove, you can tag (up) there,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But then he tagged, did it correctly, then saw he didn’t catch it, (and) he went back. That was the mistake. But he owned it. And after that, there’s nothing else you can do about it.”
After the forceout at home plate, Contreras smartly got up and jogged to third to force out Smith, too.
Smith had gone back to second when he thought Frelick made a clean catch.
“From home plate, I had a pretty good view of it,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “I could tell pretty much right away it hit off the wall. Right away once it hits off the wall, you know that ball is played live. Tremendous job by the guys there just doing what we needed to do to finish that play off.”
As all of it was developing, Frelick had his arms out with a quizzical look on his face, wondering what exactly had just happened — not unlike many fans.
The Dodgers challenged the call, but a replay review confirmed the forceouts at home and third for a most unusual inning-ending 8-6-2 double play.
Umpires called it correctly in real time all the way through the play.
“Honestly, I didn’t know they ruled it a no-catch,” Roberts said. “I just wanted clarity on the whole situation. And then kind of making sure that they got a couple of forceouts, which they did. And ultimately, those guys and replay, the guys on the field got it right. They nailed it.”
At 404 feet, it was the second-longest projected distance on a batted ball resulting in a double play since Statcast tracking began in 2015 — regular-season games included. For Muncy, it goes down as a grounded-into-double play, even though the ball didn’t touch the ground.
There had not been an 8-6-2 double play in the postseason over the last 35 years, the Elias Sports Bureau said. Those type of official scoring details are not always clear in records going back any further.
The most recent 8-6-2 double play in the regular season involved a ball hit by Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa to Cincinnati center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. in April 2004 — though that one ended with a tag at the plate.
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