Oct. 14 (UPI) — Blake Snell allowed one hit in eight innings before the Los Angeles Dodgers fended off a late comeback to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers took the lead on Freddie Freeman’s 362-foot homer in the sixth inning of Monday’s 2-1 win at Milwaukee. They added another run with a bases-loaded walk in the ninth, but needed to survive several threats from the Brewers in the latter half of the final inning to steal the road victory.
“I feel like throughout the entire postseason I’ve been pretty focused and pretty consistent,” Snell told reporters.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner was dominant early in Game 1, retiring the first six Brewers batters in order. He allowed his only hit to Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin in the third, but did not allow another runner. Snell also struck out 10 in his eight-inning gem.
“Sometimes it takes an inning or two for someone to adjust, but it was from the beginning… It was a masterpiece,” Freeman said, when asked about Snell’s performance.
Game two of the best-of-seven series will be Tuesday in Milwaukee. The series will move to Los Angeles on Thursday for Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers’ bats also started slowly on Monday, going hitless until catcher Will Smith and second baseman Tommy Edman hit back-to-back singles in the fourth. But Brewers reliever Quinn Priester managed to escape the inning unscathed. The Dodgers reached base again with two men in the fifth, but also ended up stranded.
Freeman finally got the score going when he crushed a 3-2 baseball from relief pitcher Chad Patrick to right field for a 1-0 Dodgers lead in the sixth.
The Dodgers continued to put runners on base, but did not score again until reliever Abner Uribe walked shortstop Mookie Betts with the bases loaded in the final frame.
The Brewers cut the deficit in half on an RBI sacrifice fly by right fielder Jackson Chourio in the bottom of the inning. They proceeded to load the bases for Brice Turang with two outs later in the inning, but Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen struck out the second baseman to end the game and secure his first save of the postseason.
Freeman, Smith and left fielder Enrique Hernández each recorded two hits in the victory. Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-2, but reached base three times via walks. Edman and third baseman Max Muncy also reached base twice for the Dodgers.
First pitch for Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday at 8:08 pm EDT at American Family Field. That matchup will feature the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto against fellow right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta of the Brewers.